Aspirin use is associated with a significantly increased risk of pancreatic cancer

This study was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2004 Jan 7;96(1):22-8

Study title and authors:

A prospective study of aspirin use and the risk of pancreatic cancer in women.

Schernhammer ES, Kang JH, Chan AT, Michaud DS, Skinner HG, Giovannucci E, Colditz GA, Fuchs CS.

Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. eva.schernhammer@channing.harvard.edu

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14709735

The study examined the relationship between aspirin use and the development of pancreatic cancer. The study included 88,378 women over a 18 year period.

The study found:
(a) Women who took 2 or more standard aspirin tablets per week had a 20% increased risk of pancreatic cancer compared to women who took fewer than 2 aspirins per week.
(b) Compared to women that have never had aspirin;
(i) women who had 1-3 tablets a week had an 11% increase in pancreatic cancer
(ii) women who had 4-6 tablets a week had an 29% increase in pancreatic cancer
(iii) women who had 7-13 tablets a week had an 41% increase in pancreatic cancer
(iv) women who had over 14 tablets a week had an 86% increase in pancreatic cancer
(c) Women who reported more than 20 years of regular aspirin use had a 58% increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

The study shows that regular aspirin use is associated with a significantly increased risk of pancreatic cancer among women.

Links to other studies:
Does aspirin increase the risk of heart disease and stroke?
Ibuprofen increases the risk of breast cancer by 51%
Statins increase the risk of colon adenomas by 54%