Frequent aspirin use “is associated with lower ovarian cancer risk regardless of the presence of most other ovarian cancer risk factors,” conclude authors of an individual-level meta-analysis. “Risk reductions were also observed among women with multiple risk factors, providing proof of principle that chemoprevention programs with frequent aspirin use could target higher-risk subgroups.”
The meta-analysis included 9 cohort studies from the Ovarian Cancer Cohort Consortium (n = 2,600 cases) and 8 case-control studies from the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (n = 5,726 cases). Associations between frequent aspirin use (≥6 days/week) and ovarian cancer risk factors (endometriosis, obesity, family history of breast/ovarian cancer, nulliparity, oral contraceptive use, tubal ligation) and by the number of risk factors (0, 1, and ≥2). showed the following: “Overall, frequent aspirin use was associated with a 13% reduction in ovarian cancer risk (95% CI, 6 to 20), with no significant heterogeneity by study design (P = .48) or histotype (P = .60). Although no association was observed among women with endometriosis, consistent risk reductions were observed among all other subgroups defined by ovarian cancer risk factors (relative risks ranging from 0.79 to 0.93, all P-heterogeneity > .05), including women with ≥ 2 risk factors (relative risk, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.90).”