NSAIDs reduce breast cancer link 21%

A meta-analysis of 38 studies has shown that commonly-used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 21%.

Published in the on-line version of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on October 7, the review included studies that examined the association between the risk of breast cancer and use of NSAIDs, including aspirin and ibuprofen, that were published between 1966 and 2008, identified using Medline, EMBASE, and other databases.

The team of Canadian researchers performed the meta-analysis by pooling studies according to the inverse of their variances and performed separate analyses of trials pooled according to aspirin and ibuprofen use, while also evaluating publication bias and study quality.