Association of hypertension and the risk of cancer: a study based on the UK Biobank

Abstract Introduction With the increasing incidence rate of hypertension and carcinoma, there is a growing interest in investigating the potential link between these two diseases. The subdiscipline of hypertension, Onco-hypertension, has been proposed and attracted much attention. However, there are still few researches on this subdiscipline. Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between hypertension and the occurrence of cancer. Additionally, we explore whether anti-hypertensive treatment has any impact on the incidence of cancer. Methods This study involved 244,496 participants recruited between 2006-2010 from the UK Biobank, with 21,765 participants were diagnosed with the hypertension according to the ICD10 coding. The Cox regression was used to analyse the the risk of cancer associated with hypertension. The effect of anti-hypertensive treatment on the occur of cancer was also verified according to the Cox regression and the Drug target Mendelian randomization. Results Compared to those participants without hypertension, those people with hypertension have higher risk of the occur of cancer(adjusted hazard ratio(aHR) 1.35, 95% confidence interval(CI)1.3-1.4), especially in breast cancer(aHR 1.43, 95% CI 1.27-1.61), prostate cancer(aHR 1.85, 95% CI 1.7-2.02), lung cancer(aHR 2.15, 95% CI 1.86-2.48), renal cancer(aHR 1.91, 95% CI 1.46-2.49), pancreas cancer(aHR 1.55, 95% CI 1.2-2). Compared to those people with hypertension but without anti-hypertensive treatment, the anti-hypertensive treatment increase the cancer risk(aHR 1.19, 95% CI 1.06-1.33). However, thiazide diuretic have protect effect for hypertension patients on occur of the prostate cancer (aHR 0.74, 95% CI 0.61-0.89) and beta-receptor blocker have protect effect for hypertension patients on occur of the lung cancer (aHR 0.71, 95% CI 0.54-0.93). The result of Drug target Mendelian randomization shows the anti-hypertensive treatment have no significant effect on the risk of cancer. Conclusion The onset of high blood pressure is linked to an elevated risk of several cancers. However, it cannot be conclusively determined whether the use of medications for high blood pressure increases or decreases the overall risk of cancer. This study provides instructive evidences for the further study of Onco-hypertension.The result of main analyseThe analyse of the antihypertensive drug