Esophageal and gastric cancer incidence and mortality in alendronate users

Recent studies have reached conflicting conclusions regarding the risk of esophageal cancer with oral bisphosphonates. Prior studies did not record the number of cancer deaths or endoscopy rates, which could be higher in bisphosphonate users and lead to more cancers being diagnosed at a stage when their esophageal or gastric location could be accurately distinguished. We conducted a register-based, open cohort study using national healthcare data for Denmark. Upper endoscopy frequency, cancer incidence and mortality was examined in 30,606 alendronate users (female, age 50¿+¿) and 122,424 matched controls. Primary outcomes were esophageal cancer incidence and death due to esophageal cancer. The analysis showed that alendronate users were more likely to have undergone recent upper endoscopy (4.1 vs 1.7%, p¿