A Meta-analysis Of The Association Between Aspirin And NSAIDs Use And Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer

Background: The association between use of nonsteroidal anti-inflame-matory drugs (NSAID), including aspirin, and risk of pancreatic cancer iscontroversial. We did a meta-analysis to summarize available evidence fromepidemiologic studies investigating the relation between use of aspirin or otherNSAIDs and the risk of pancreatic cancer.Methods: We identified potential studies by searching Pubmed, CNKI,Wanfang, and Weipu datebases (from1966to March2012) and by reviewingthe reference list of pertinent publications. Studies were eligible for inclusion ifthey met the following criteria:(a) had a case-control or prospective design,(b)examined exposure to aspirin or NSAIDs,(c) the outcome was pancreaticcancer incidence or mortality, and (d) they provided a relative risk (RR)estimate (rate ratio, hazard ratio, or odds ratio) with corresponding confidenceinterval or sufficient information to permit their calculation.Results: A total of13studies (6case-control studies,6cohort studies, and1randomized trial), involving8,079pancreatic cancer cases, was included inthe meta-analysis. The summary RR estimate did not indicate any associationbetween aspirin/NSAID use and risk of pancreatic cancer [any/regular useversus nonregular/never use: RR,0.98;95%CI,0.90-1.06]. The pooled ORwere0.94(0.80-1.10)、0.99(0.78-1.27) and0.97(0.67-1.38) in the low,intermediate and high exposure groups respectively. Conclusions: Current epidemiologic evidence does not indicate that use ofaspirin or NSAIDs is associated with the risk of pancreatic cancer.