Re-visiting the association between antidepressant use and the risk of lung cancer

Abstract

Observational studies suggest a potential correlation between antidepressants and increased lung cancer risks. However, existing studies are limited to small sample sizes, unadjusted covariates especially smoking status, and unclear exposure duration. We performed a large-scale retrospective cohort study to re-examine the association. We analyzed non-smokers and smokers separately to eliminate the confounding effect of smoking status. We found patients with long-term antidepressant use were at a lower risk of lung cancer in both smokers and non-smokers (odds ratio (OR), 0.61; 95% CI: 0.46–0.80, OR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.65–0.86). None of the antidepressants was associated with an increased lung cancer risk.