1. ¹Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
2. ²School of Population Health, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
3. ³Gastrointestinal Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
4. ⁴Population Studies and Genetic Research, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Queensland, Australia
5. ⁵Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
6. ⁶Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
7. ⁷The Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

Correspondence: Dr D Feskanich, Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, USA. E-mail: diane.feskanich@channing.harvard.edu

Received 20 March 2007; Revised 22 August 2007; Accepted 29 August 2007; Published online 25 September 2007.

Abstract

Aspirin may reduce the risk of cancer at some sites but its effect at the lung is unclear. We prospectively examined associations between aspirin use and risk of lung cancer in 109 348 women in the Nurses' Health study from 1980 to 2004. During this time, 1360 lung cancers were documented in participants 36–82 years of age. Aspirin use and smoking were assessed every 2 years. Risk of lung cancer was a non-significant 16% lower for regular aspirin users of one or two tablets per week and a significant 55% higher for users of 15 or more tablets per week compared with women who never regularly used aspirin. Results were similar when limited to never smokers. For both the low and high quantity aspirin users, risk of lung cancer did not decline or increase with longer durations of use, and associations attenuated as the latency period between aspirin assessment and lung cancer diagnosis was lengthened. Our findings, together with those from previous clinical trials and prospective studies, do not provide consistent evidence that aspirin influences the development of lung cancer and further investigation is required with adjustment for smoking.