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Table 3 Pooled analysis of the association between propranolol and non-selective beta-blocker use after breast cancer diagnosis and breast cancer-specific and all-cause mortality

From: Propranolol and survival from breast cancer: a pooled analysis of European breast cancer cohorts

Medication usage

Cancer-specific/all-cause mortality

All patients

Person-years

Unadjusted

Adjusted for age and year

Fully adjusteda

HR (95% CI)

P

Hetero I 2 (P)

HR (95% CI)

P

Hetero I 2 (P)

HR (95% CI)

P

Hetero I 2 (P)

Breast cancer-specific mortality

 Propranolol non-user

5291

53,482

176,723

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

 Propranolol userb

128

1770

4989

0.92 (0.77, 1.10)

0.36

0% (0.75)

0.97 (0.82, 1.16)

0.77

0% (0.84)

0.94 (0.77, 1.16)

0.56

0% (0.56)

Propranolol prescriptions

 <1 year of prescriptionsc

88

1217

3703

1.00 (0.79, 1.26)

0.98

22% (0.27)

1.09 (0.88, 1.35)

0.42

9% (0.35)

1.01 (0.80, 1.27)

0.96

0% (0.62)

 ≥1 year of prescriptionsc

40

553

1286

0.82 (0.56, 1.21)

0.32

3% (0.38)

0.80 (0.54, 1.17)

0.25

2% (0.38)

0.93 (0.46, 1.90)

0.84

63% (0.04)

 Non-selective bb non-user

5215

52,903

175,007

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

 Non-selective bb userb

204

2349

6706

1.08 (0.94, 1.24)

0.31

0% (0.51)

1.07 (0.93, 1.23)

0.37

0% (0.92)

1.01 (0.85, 1.20)

0.90

0% (0.47)

Non-selective bb prescriptions

 <1 year of prescriptionsc

145

1466

4555

1.13 (0.93, 1.37)

0.22

22% (0.27)

1.16 (0.99, 1.37)

0.07

0% (0.55)

1.10 (0.90, 1.34)

0.36

0% (0.70)

 ≥1 year of prescriptionsc

59

883

2149

1.02 (0.78, 1.31)

0.91

0% (0.72)

0.92 (0.71, 1.19)

0.53

0% (0.83)

0.97 (0.63, 1.48)

0.88

46% (0.14)

All-cause mortality

 Propranolol non-user

24,654

128,505

554,765

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

 Propranolol userb

818

4746

16,202

1.04 (0.86, 1.27)

0.68

82% (<0.01)

1.13 (0.93, 1.37)

0.21

81% (<0.01)

1.09 (0.93, 1.28)

0.27

65% (0.006)

Propranolol prescriptions

 <1 year of prescriptionsc

548

3099

10,977

1.01 (0.78, 1.32)

0.92

85% (<0.01)

1.20 (0.93, 1.53)

0.16

83% (<0.01)

1.15 (0.95, 1.39)

0.16

62% (0.01)

 ≥1 year of prescriptionsc

270

1647

5225

1.18 (0.97, 1.44)

0.10

45% (0.09)

1.10 (0.96, 1.26)

0.17

10% (0.35)

1.09 (0.85, 1.40)

0.48

55% (0.04)

 Non-selective bb non-user

23,740

125,320

543,344

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

1.00 (ref. cat.)

  

 Non-selective bb userb

1732

7931

27,624

1.34 (1.14, 1.58)

0.001

87% (<0.01)

1.22 (1.09, 1.36)

0.001

70% (<0.01)

1.16 (1.02, 1.32)

0.02

71% (<0.01)

Non-selective bb prescriptions

 <1 year of prescriptionsc

1012

4512

17,074

1.23 (0.98, 1.55)

0.08

89% (<0.01)

1.22 (1.04, 1.43)

0.02

75% (<0.01)

1.19 (1.04, 1.36)

0.01

54% (0.03)

 ≥1 year of prescriptionsc

720

3419

10,549

1.67 (1.49, 1.87)

<0.001

39% (0.13)

1.30 (1.21, 1.40)

<0.001

0% (0.61)

1.23 (1.04, 1.45)

0.02

62% (0.02)

  1. aModel contains age, year, stage and confounders presented in Table 1
  2. bMedication use modelled as a time-varying covariate with an individual considered a non-user prior to 1 year after first medication usage and a user after this time, excludes deaths in the year after cancer diagnosis
  3. cMedication use modelled as a time-varying covariate with an individual considered a non-user prior to 1 year after first medication usage, a user of 0–1 year of prescriptions from 1 year after first prescription to 1 year of prescriptions (considered four prescriptions in Denmark and 12 prescriptions in all other countries) and a greater user after this time, excludes deaths in the year after cancer diagnosis
  4. bb beta-blocker, CI confidence interval, HR hazard ratio, ref. cat. reference category