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Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and risk of endometrial cancer: a nationwide case–control study

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Abstract

Purpose

We examined the association between use of low-dose aspirin and non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and endometrial cancer risk in a nationwide case–control study.

Methods

Cases were all women in Denmark diagnosed with endometrial cancer during 2000–2009. Age-matched female controls were randomly selected by risk-set sampling. Information on NSAID use was collected from the Prescription Registry and classified according to duration and intensity. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting for potential confounders. Analyses were stratified by endometrial cancer type, and potential effect modification by parity, obesity, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) use was investigated.

Results

We identified 5,382 endometrial cancer cases and 72,127 controls. Endometrial cancer was not associated with use of low-dose aspirin (OR 0.97, 95 % CI 0.89–1.05) or non-aspirin NSAIDs (OR 0.96, 95 % CI 0.91–1.02) compared with nonuse. The ORs did not vary with increasing duration or intensity of NSAID use or with type of endometrial cancer. Interaction analyses showed reduced endometrial cancer risk associated with low-dose aspirin use among nulliparous women (OR 0.82, 95 % CI 0.70–0.95) and with non-aspirin NSAID use among women having used HRT (OR 0.90, 95 % CI 0.82–0.99).

Conclusions

We found no association between use of NSAIDs and endometrial cancer risk overall, although there were some indications of risk reductions associated with low-dose aspirin use among nulliparous women and with non-aspirin NSAID use among women having used HRT.

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Acknowledgments

NB was funded by a scholarship from the Lundbeck Foundation. The funding source had no role in the design, analysis, and interpretation of the results.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unit of Virus, Lifestyle and Genes, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Strandboulevarden 49, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Nanna Brøns, Louise Baandrup & Susanne K. Kjaer

  2. Unit of Statistics, Bioinformatics and Registry, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Christian Dehlendorff

  3. The Gynecologic Clinic, Juliane Marie Center, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Susanne K. Kjaer

Authors
  1. Nanna Brøns
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  2. Louise Baandrup
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  3. Christian Dehlendorff
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Correspondence to Susanne K. Kjaer.

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Brøns, N., Baandrup, L., Dehlendorff, C. et al. Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and risk of endometrial cancer: a nationwide case–control study. Cancer Causes Control 26, 973–981 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-015-0578-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-015-0578-4

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