Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2019 Mar;28(3):555-562.
doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-18-0702. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Aspirin, NSAIDs, and Glioma Risk: Original Data from the Glioma International Case-Control Study and a Meta-analysis

E Susan Amirian  1 , Quinn T Ostrom  1 , Georgina N Armstrong  1 , Rose K Lai  2 , Xiangjun Gu  1 , Daniel I Jacobs  1 , Ali Jalali  3 , Elizabeth B Claus  4   5 , Jill S Barnholtz-Sloan  6 , Dora Il'yasova  7   8 , Joellen M Schildkraut  9 , Francis Ali-Osman  10 , Siegal Sadetzki  11   12 , Robert B Jenkins  13 , Daniel H Lachance  14 , Sara H Olson  15 , Jonine L Bernstein  15 , Ryan T Merrell  16 , Margaret R Wrensch  17 , Christoffer Johansen  18 , Richard S Houlston  19 , Michael E Scheurer  20 , Sanjay Shete  21 , Christopher I Amos  22 , Beatrice Melin  23 , Melissa L Bondy  24
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Aspirin, NSAIDs, and Glioma Risk: Original Data from the Glioma International Case-Control Study and a Meta-analysis

E Susan Amirian et al. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

Background: There have been few studies of sufficient size to address the relationship between glioma risk and the use of aspirin or NSAIDs, and results have been conflicting. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between glioma and aspirin/NSAID use, and to aggregate these findings with prior published studies using meta-analysis.

Methods: The Glioma International Case-Control Study (GICC) consists of 4,533 glioma cases and 4,171 controls recruited from 2010 to 2013. Interviews were conducted using a standardized questionnaire to obtain information on aspirin/NSAID use. We examined history of regular use for ≥6 months and duration-response. Restricted maximum likelihood meta-regression models were used to aggregate site-specific estimates, and to combine GICC estimates with previously published studies.

Results: A history of daily aspirin use for ≥6 months was associated with a 38% lower glioma risk, compared with not having a history of daily use [adjusted meta-OR = 0.62; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54-0.70]. There was a significant duration-response trend (P = 1.67 × 10-17), with lower ORs for increasing duration of aspirin use. Duration-response trends were not observed for NSAID use. In the meta-analysis aggregating GICC data with five previous studies, there was a marginally significant association between use of aspirin and glioma (mOR = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.70-1.02), but no association for NSAID use.

Conclusions: Our study suggests that aspirin may be associated with a reduced risk of glioma.

Impact: These results imply that aspirin use may be associated with decreased glioma risk. Further research examining the association between aspirin use and glioma risk is warranted.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Forest plot representing the meta-analysis of aspirin use and glioma risk by study sites.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Forest plots representing the meta-analysis of non-aspirin NSAIDs and glioma risk by study sites.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cuzick J, Thorat MA, Bosetti C, Brown PH, Burn J, Cook NR, et al. Estimates of benefits and harms of prophylactic use of aspirin in the general population. Ann Oncol 2015;26(1):47–57 doi 10.1093/annonc/mdu225. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cao Y, Nishihara R, Wu K, Wang M, Ogino S, Willett WC, et al. Population-wide Impact of Long-term Use of Aspirin and the Risk for Cancer. JAMA Oncol 2016. doi 10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.6396. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jacobs EJ, Thun MJ, Bain EB, Rodriguez C, Henley SJ, Calle EE. A large cohort study of long-term daily use of adult-strength aspirin and cancer incidence. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2007;99(8):608–15 doi 10.1093/jnci/djk132. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Miedema MD, Huguelet J, Virani SS. Aspirin for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: In Need of Clarity. Current atherosclerosis reports 2016;18(1):4 doi 10.1007/s11883-015-0555-0. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Amirian ES, Armstrong GN, Zhou R, Lau CC, Claus EB, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, et al. The Glioma International Case-Control Study: A Report From the Genetic Epidemiology of Glioma International Consortium. Am J Epidemiol 2016;183(2):85–91 doi 10.1093/aje/kwv235. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances