Key result
Aspirin use was associated with a reduced overall cancer risk (adjusted OR 0.95; 95% CI 0.94 to 0.96), specifically for colorectal and digestive system cancers.
Why the study?
Does aspirin use reduce the risk for cancer in the Taiwanese population?
Case-Control (n=3,008,665)
Does aspirin use reduce the risk for cancer in the Taiwanese population?
Effect estimate: AOR 0.95 (95% CI 0.94 to 0.96)
Aspirin use is associated with a small but statistically significant reduction in overall, colorectal, and digestive system cancer risk in a large Taiwanese cohort.
Should not change practice for cancer prevention; extends observational data on aspirin in East Asians but leaves causality open.
Recently, studies have reported that aspirin has chemopreventive properties. In this study, we used the Taiwan NHI database, which covers a population of 23 million (99.99%) Taiwanese from 2001 to 2011. This was a case-control study which identified 601,733 patients using ICD-9-CM codes who were diagnosed with cancer. Each case with 4 eligible controls was matched for age, sex, and index date and adjusted for confounding factors. The observed overall cancer risk (adjusted OR (AOR), 0.95; 95% CI 0.94 to 0.96) reduced with aspirin use, specifically, colorectal (AOR, 0.97; 95% CI 0.94 to 0.99) and digestive system (AOR, 0.96; 95% CI 0.94 to 0.98) cancers. Findings from the Asian population would contribute to the discussion on aspirin's safety profile.
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Iqbal et al. (2016) conducted a case-control in Cancer (n=3,008,665). Aspirin vs. No aspirin use (matched controls) was evaluated on Overall cancer risk (AOR 0.95, 95% CI 0.94 to 0.96). Aspirin use was associated with a reduced overall cancer risk (adjusted OR 0.95; 95% CI 0.94 to 0.96), specifically for colorectal and digestive system cancers.
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