COLUMBUS, Ohio--Women who said they used an NSAID (usually aspirin(Drug information on aspirin) or ibuprofen(Drug information on ibuprofen)) regularly for 5 years or more had a 40% lower risk of breast cancer than those who did not report such use, Dr. Randall E. Harris and his colleagues at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center have found.
This case-control study involved 303 breast cancer patients diagnosed at the University's Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and 906 controls (women who underwent screening mam-mography and had no detectable breast disease). Risk factor data were collected by personal interviews at the time of diagnosis or screening.
Significantly more women in the control group (27%) reported regular NSAID use than did the breast cancer patients (19%). Calculation of odds ratios showed a reduction in risk of 36% for those who took NSAIDs three or more times a week for 6 months or more, and a reduction of 40% among those who used NSAIDs seven times a week for 5 years or more.
These results, published in Oncology Reports (2:591-592, 1995), are supported by an earlier study by Dr. Harris' team that matched 744 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients with 767 controls drawn from hospital patients with medical conditions unrelated to breast cancer.
That study found a 37% reduction in breast cancer risk among women who reported using NSAIDs at least three times a week for at least 5 years (Prev Med 24:119-120, 1995).
