Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and prostate cancer risk in the VITamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic inflammation may be important in prostate carcinogenesis. Several epidemiologic studies have reported inverse associations between nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and prostate cancer risk, although many studies are limited by assessment of short-term use only. Methods: Participants were male members of the VITamins And Lifestyle cohort, comprised 34,132 men, aged 50-76 years, living in western Washington State. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) of 10-year average use of individual NSAIDs with total prostate cancer (n = 1,550) and prostate cancer by grade. Results: Low-dose aspirin, regular-strength aspirin, ibuprofen, and any nonaspirin NSAID (ibuprofen, naproxen, and COX-2 inhibitors) were not associated with prostate cancer risk. There was a suggestion that regular-strength aspirin was inversely associated with risk of high-grade cancer (HR 0.73, 95% CI: 0.53-1.02). Conclusion: NSAID use was not associated with prostate cancer risk in the VITAL cohort. Impact: Our findings do not support the use of NSAIDs for chemoprevention of prostate cancer. ©2010 AACR.