Can aspirin use reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract. Background:. Chemoprevention effect of aspirin for pancreatic cancer (PC) remains unclear. Here we performed an updated systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the real association between aspirin consumption and risk of PC. Methods:. PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE and the Cochrane Database were systematic searched to identify the potential studies. Odds ratio (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were applied to assess the strength of associations. Results:. Thirteen studies and approximately 28,440 participants were included. Aspirin significantly reduced the incidence of PC (OR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.73–0.93) in case-control studies. However, the overall results did not reveal an obvious association (OR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.74–1.16). Both low-dose (OR = 0.86) and high-dose (OR = 0.80) aspirin intake showed prevention effect. In addition, low frequency (OR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.73–1.05) and high frequency (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.69–1.03) seemed to be equally associated with decreased risk for PC. Aspirin consumption longer than 10 years use seems to have better effect (OR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.51–1.04) than shorter aspirin use (OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.77–1.15). Conclusions:. Our study indicated that aspirin use might be associated with decreased risk of PC, especially at high doses. But we still need to be cautious when interpreting the results.