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Regular aspirin use and breast cancer risk in US Black Women

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Abstract

Background

Epidemiologic studies have yet to provide consistent evidence to support a protective effect of aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) on the incidence of breast cancer.

Objective

We evaluated the relations of current use of aspirin, non-aspirin NSAIDs, and acetaminophen with breast cancer incidence in the Black Women’s Health Study.

Methods

Biennial follow-up of 59,000 study participants began in 1995. During 558,600 person-years of follow-up through 2007, 1,275 breast cancer cases were identified. Using Cox proportional hazards regression, we estimated incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for associations of current and former use of aspirin, other NSAIDs, and acetaminophen with incident breast cancer.

Results

After adjustment for age, education, body mass index at age 18, physical activity, female hormone use, current smoking, and other NSAID use, the IRRs were 0.79 (95% CI = 0.66, 0.95) for current aspirin use and 0.68 (95% CI = 0.50, 0.92) for ≥5 years of aspirin use. Similar associations were observed for acetaminophen use.

Conclusions

Both aspirin and acetaminophen use were inversely associated with breast cancer incidence in the present study. Reasons for the association with acetaminophen use are unclear, given that acetaminophen has very weak anti-inflammatory effects.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute grant R01 CA058420. Data on breast cancer pathology were obtained with institutional review board approval from several state cancer registries (AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MD, MA, MI, NJ, NY, NC, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA). The content of this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the National Cancer Institute or the cancer registries. The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the participants, investigators, and staff of the Black Women’s Health Study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Jaclyn L. F. Bosco

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Jaclyn L. F. Bosco & Elizabeth E. Hatch

  3. Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University, 1010 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Julie R. Palmer, Deborah A. Boggs & Lynn Rosenberg

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  1. Jaclyn L. F. Bosco
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  2. Julie R. Palmer
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  3. Deborah A. Boggs
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  5. Lynn Rosenberg
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Correspondence to Lynn Rosenberg.

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Bosco, J.L.F., Palmer, J.R., Boggs, D.A. et al. Regular aspirin use and breast cancer risk in US Black Women. Cancer Causes Control 22, 1553–1561 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-011-9832-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-011-9832-6

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