Dartmouth researchers have found that duration of ibuprofen use was associated with a reduced risk of bladder cancer in patients in northern New England, which has a high mortality rate of this disease. In a 2012 collaborative project with the National Cancer Institute, Margaret Karagas, PhD, co-director, Cancer Epidemiology & Chemoprevention program at Norris Cotton Cancer Center, and Professor of Community and Family Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and Richard Waddell, D.Sc, Research Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine, looked for connections between ibuprofen use and bladder cancer.
Bladder cancer and ibuprofen use
Karagas did an earlier study on the relationship between bladder cancer and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) usage in New Hampshire. The new study included patients in Vermont and Maine. Researchers enrolled 1,171 participants newly diagnosed with bladder cancer and 1,418 participants who did not have bladder cancer. Karagas also added a genetic component looking at thirty-nine genes related to NSAID metabolism and studied a new class of NSAIDs known as selective cyclooxygenase (COX-2) inhibitors, such as celecoxib (Celebrex). Their results were published in the International Journal of Cancer (June 2012).
Those with specific genetic traits appear to have reduced risk