Anti-inflammatory drugs may protect against oesophageal and gastric cancer, according to the results of a new study (British Medical Journal 2000;320:1642).
It is already known that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) treatment is associated with protection against colorectal cancer. The new study was set up to assess whether the drugs offer protection against other common cancers.
Professor M. Langman (department of medicine, University of Birmingham) and colleagues used a Department of Health general practice research database to examine whether NSAID treatment protected against nine types of cancer. Data on prescriptions for aspirin and other NSAIDs for 12,174 patients with cancer and 34,934 controls was examined.
The overall risk of the nine cancers was not significantly reduced among those who had received at least seven prescriptions for an NSAID in the 13-36 months before cancer diagnosis. However, the findings "were compatible" with protective effects from anti-inflammatory drugs against cancer of the oesophagus (odds ratio 0.64), gastric cancer (0.51) and rectal cancer (0.75). The findings were dose related.
In contrast, an increased risk of cancers of the pancreas and prostate was observed, but this was not dose related and the authors suggest that it could be a chance finding. There was no effect on cancers of the bladder, breast or lung.
The authors conclude that while aspirin and other NSAIDs may protect against gut epithelial cancers, there may be no overall benefit in preventing cancer. Further work is needed to assess the effect of the drugs on risk of pancreatic and prostatic cancers, they say.