Executive Summary

Long-term use of NSAIDs was linked to reduced incidence of oral cancer, but also was associated with increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease, an online study published Oct. 7 by The Lancet finds. The nested case-control study analyzed data from the Norwegian Health Survey database and identified individuals with oral cancer out of the 9,241 participants who had an increased risk for oral cancer due to heavy smoking, Jon Sudbø, MD, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo, Norway, et al., state. Matched controls were chosen from the heavy smokers who did not have cancer. "NSAID use for 15 or more years had the lowest and most highly significant hazard ratio [.30] for oral cancer," Sudbø et al. explain. However, the finding linking increases in death due to cardiovascular disease and long-term NSAID use "highlights the need for a careful risk-benefit analysis when the long-term use of NSAIDs is considered," the authors say...