SynthesisFrontiers in oncology2021
Aspirin Use and Common Cancer Risk: A Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies and Randomized Controlled Trials.
Synthesis in Frontiers in oncology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Chemoprevention of Gastrointestinal Cancers: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials and Cohort Studies.Clinical and translational science · 2025Pooled it
- Risk factors for prostate cancer: An umbrella review of prospective observational studies and mendelian randomization analyses.PLoS medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Repurposing effect of cardiovascular-metabolic drug to increase lifespan: a systematic review of animal studies and current clinical trial progress.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of aspirin on incidence, recurrence, and mortality in prostate cancer patients: integrating evidence from randomized controlled trials and real-world studies.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- 2022 Update on Prostate Cancer Epidemiology and Risk Factors-A Systematic Review.European urology · 2023Pooled it
- Risk factors for gastric cancer: A comprehensive analysis of observational studies.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- The Effect of Anti-Inflammatory Drugs on the Incidence of Colorectal Cancer.Pharmaceutics · 2026Review
- Association between use of non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and detection of colorectal polyps and cancer in a screening setting.Gastroenterology report · 2026Article
- Association of hydralazine use with risk of hematologic neoplasms in patients with hypertension: A nationwide population-based cohort study in Taiwan.PLoS medicine · 2025Article
- Long-term use of low-dose aspirin for cancer prevention: A 20-year longitudinal cohort study of 1,506,525 Hong Kong residents.International journal of cancer · 2025Article
- Chemoprevention of Colorectal Cancer-With Emphasis on Low-Dose Aspirin and Anticoagulants.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Low-dose aspirin and non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and epithelial ovarian cancer survival: a registry-based cohort study in Norway.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Impact of aspirin on biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer after robot assisted radical prostatectomy in a multicenter retrospective cohort study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Long-term aspirin use influences the probability of distant metastases and operability in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a single-center retrospective study.Reports of practical oncology and radiotherapy : journal of Greatpoland Cancer Center in Poznan and Polish Society of Radiation Oncology · 2025Article
- Exploring Aspirin's Potential in Cancer Prevention: A Comprehensive Review of the Current Evidence.Cureus · 2024Review
- Aspirin in Primary Prevention: Looking for Those Who Enjoy It.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Review
- Cancer-Associated Stroke: Thrombosis Mechanism, Diagnosis, Outcome, and Therapeutic Strategies.Journal of stroke · 2024Review
- Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease: The Conjoined Twins.Cancers · 2024Review
- The Past and Future of Inflammation as a Target to Cancer Prevention.Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWhether aspirin use can decrease or increase cancer risk remains controversial. In this study, a meta-analysis of cohort studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were conducted to evaluate the effect of aspirin use on common cancer risk.
methodMedline and Embase databases were searched to identify relevant studies. Meta-analyses of cohort studies and RCTs were performed to assess the effect of aspirin use on the risk of colorectal, gastric, breast, prostate and lung cancer. Cochran Q test and the I square metric were calculated to detect potential heterogeneity among studies. Subgroup meta-analyses according to exposure categories (frequency and duration) and timing of aspirin use (whether aspirin was used before and after cancer diagnosis) were also performed. A dose-response analysis was carried out to evaluate and quantify the association between aspirin dose and cancer risk.
resultsA total of 88 cohort studies and seven RCTs were included in the final analysis. Meta-analyses of cohort studies revealed that regular aspirin use reduced the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) (RR=0.85, 95%CI: 0.78-0.92), gastric cancer (RR=0.67, 95%CI: 0.52-0.87), breast cancer (RR=0.93, 95%CI: 0.87-0.99) and prostate cancer (RR=0.92, 95%CI: 0.86-0.98), but showed no association with lung cancer risk. Additionally, meta-analyses of RCTs showed that aspirin use had a protective effect on CRC risk (OR=0.74, 95%CI: 0.56-0.97). When combining evidence from meta-analyses of cohorts and RCTs, consistent evidence was found for the protective effect of aspirin use on CRC risk. Subgroup analysis showed that high frequency aspirin use was associated with increased lung cancer risk (RR=1.05, 95%CI: 1.01-1.09). Dose-response analysis revealed that high-dose aspirin use may increase prostate cancer risk.
conclusionsThis study provides evidence for low-dose aspirin use for the prevention of CRC, but not other common cancers. High frequency or high dose use of aspirin should be prescribed with caution because of their associations with increased lung and prostate cancer risk, respectively. Further studies are warranted to validate these findings and to find the minimum effective dose required for cancer prevention.
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