Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
While people who use Viagra and other types of erectile dysfunction drugs face a higher risk of developing serious skin cancer, the evidence suggests that the pills themselves are likely not the reason that those individual develop melanoma.
The research, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, involved a detailed analysis of the medical records of more than 20,000 patients, and concluded that Viagra and other ED drugs are not a cause melanoma. It also concluded that the reason for the increased cancer risk in people who use these substances is actually socioeconomic and lifestyle based.
“What our study results show is that groups of men who are more likely to get malignant melanoma include those with higher disposable incomes and education – men who likely can also afford more vacations in the sun – and who also have the means to buy erectile dysfunction medications, which are very expensive,” explained Dr. Stacy Loeb, lead author of the study and a urologist at the New York University Langone Medical Center.
“While medications for erectile dysfunction come with serious risk of a drop in blood pressure if taken together with other medicines called nitrates, overall they are safe medications, and our results suggest that physicians should not be concerned that the drugs cause melanoma,” added Dr. Loeb.
Lack of “dose relationship” helps exonerate ED drugs
The study, which reviewed the medical records of 20,235 mostly Caucasian males, was inspired by an analysis conducted last year in 14 men who had taken Viagra and were later diagnosed as having melanoma. Among those studies, 4,065 were found to have malignant melanoma between 2006 and 2012, and 2,148 who had taken the ED drugs Viagra, Levitra, or Cialis.
A total of 435 ED drug users had skin cancer, and while the study found that there was a greater statistical risk of developing malignant melanoma among erectile dysfunction drug users, there was no increased risk among those men with the most prescriptions. This sort of “dose relationship” (the more drugs taken, the higher the risk) would tend to be expected in cases where the drug itself was the direct cause of the ailment, Dr. Loeb noted.
Furthermore, the NYU Lagnone researchers and colleagues in Sweden also found no correlation between advanced stages of melanoma and ED drug use. The only association they detected was between any use of the drugs and the earliest stages of the disease, thus discrediting the idea that the treatments themselves were somehow responsible for the observed increase in risk.
“When used appropriately, erectile dysfunction medications are very effective and improve the quality of life for many men, so men should know it is doubtful that taking these medications puts them at greater risk of getting skin cancer,” said Loeb, who added that she encourages male patients to minimize exposure to the sun to reduce the risk of developing skin cancer.
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