Henriette B. Ammundsen, from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen, and colleagues examined the correlation between analgesic use and the risk of ovarian cancer, and whether the risk differed according to histological type. The study cohort included 756 women with epithelial ovarian cancer and 1,564 randomly selected control women, aged 35 to 79 years.

The researchers found a reduced risk of ovarian cancer to be associated with regular use of any analgesic or aspirin, but the reduction was not statistically significant. The risk of ovarian cancer was not decreased with regular use of non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, paracetamol, or other analgesics. There was a statistically significant decrease in the risk of serous ovarian cancer, but not mucinous or other ovarian tumors, with use of any analgesic (odds ratio [OR], 0.72; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.53 to 0.98) or aspirin (OR, 0.60; 95 percent CI, 0.36 to 1.00).

"In conclusion, the results of this case-control study indicate a possible protective effect of analgesic use in relation to development of ovarian cancer," the authors write. "Thus our results support findings from most previous studies."

Abstract
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