Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Advertisement

British Journal of Cancer
  • View all journals
  • Search
  • My Account Login
  • Content Explore content
  • About the journal
  • Publish with us
  • Sign up for alerts
  • RSS feed
  1. nature
  2. british journal of cancer
  3. regular article
  4. article
Aspirin and risk for gastric cancer: a population-based case–control study in Sweden
Download PDF
Download PDF
  • Regular Article
  • Open access
  • Published: 03 April 2001

Aspirin and risk for gastric cancer: a population-based case–control study in Sweden

  • K Akre1,
  • A M Ekström1,
  • L B Signorello2,
  • L-E Hansson3 &
  • …
  • O Nyrén1 

British Journal of Cancer volume 84, pages 965–968 (2001)Cite this article

  • 2329 Accesses

  • 145 Citations

  • 7 Altmetric

  • Metrics details

This article has been updated

Abstract

While aspirin and other non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are associated with gastric mucosal damage, they might reduce the risk for gastric cancer. In a population-based case–control study in 5 Swedish counties, we interviewed 567 incident cases of gastric cancer and 1165 controls about their use of pain relievers. The cases were uniformly classified to subsite (cardia/non-cardia) and histological type and information collected on other known risk factors for gastric cancer. Helicobacter pylori serology was tested in a subset of 542 individuals. Users of aspirin had a moderately reduced risk of gastric cancer compared to never users; odds ratio (OR) adjusted for age, gender and socioeconomic status was 0.7 (95% CI = 0.6–1.0). Gastric cancer risk fell with increasing frequency of aspirin use (P for trend = 0.02). The risk reduction was apparent for both cardia and non-cardia tumours but was uncertain for the diffuse histologic type. No clear association was observed between gastric cancer risk and non-aspirin NSAIDs or other studied pain relievers. Our finding lends support to the hypothesis that use of aspirin reduces the risk for gastric cancer. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign

Similar content being viewed by others

Global burden of gastric cancer: epidemiological trends, risk factors, screening and prevention

Article 23 March 2023

Improved prognosis in gastric adenocarcinoma among metformin users in a population-based study

Article 10 May 2021

Use of anti-androgenic 5α-reductase inhibitors and risk of oesophageal and gastric cancer by histological type and anatomical sub-site

Article Open access 17 June 2022

Article PDF

Change history

  • 16 November 2011

    This paper was modified 12 months after initial publication to switch to Creative Commons licence terms, as noted at publication

References

  • Ekstrom AM, Eriksson M, Hansson LE, Lindgren A, Signorello LB, Nyren O and Hardell L (1999a) Occupational exposures and risk of gastric cancer in a population-based case-control study. Cancer Res 59: 5932–5937

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ekstrom AM, Signorello LB, Hansson LE, Bergstrom R, Lindgren A and Nyren O (1999b) Evaluating gastric cancer misclassification: a potential explanation for the rise in cardia cancer incidence. J Natl Cancer Inst 91: 786–790

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ekstrom AM, Serafini M, Nyren O, Hansson LE, Ye W and Wolk A (2000) Dietary antioxidant intake and the risk of cardia cancer and noncardia cancer of the intestinal and diffuse types: a population-based case-control study in Sweden. Int J Cancer 87: 133–140

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Farrow DC, Vaughan TL, Hansten PD, Stanford JL, Risch HA, Gammon MD, Chow WH, Dubrow R, Ahsan H, Mayne ST, Schoenberg JB, West AB, Rotterdam H, Fraumeni JF Jr and Blot WJ (1998) Use of aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and risk of esophageal and gastric cancer. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 7: 97–102

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Giardiello FM, Hamilton SR, Krush AJ, Piantadosi S, Hylind LM, Celano P, Booker SV, Robinson CR and Offerhaus GJ (1993) Treatment of colonic and rectal adenomas with sulindac in familial adenomatous polyposis. N Engl J Med 328: 1313–1316

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Graham DYED and Evans DJ (1994) An accurate, rapid and convenient physician-office serologic test for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection (abstr.). Am J Gastroenterol 89: 1305 (A81)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gridley G, McLaughlin JK, Ekbom A, Klareskog L, Adami HO, Hacker DG, Hoover R and Fraumeni JF Jr (1993) Incidence of cancer among patients with rheumatoid arthritis. J Natl Cancer Inst 85: 307–311

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hansson LE, Baron J, Nyren O, Bergstrom R, Wolk A, Lindgren A and Adami HO (1994) Early-life risk indicators of gastric cancer. A population-based case-control study in Sweden. Int J Cancer 57: 32–37

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkey CJ (1996) Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug gastropathy: causes and treatment. Scand J Gastroenterol Suppl 220: 124–127

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hosmer DW and Lemeshow S (1989). Applied logistic regression, Wiley: New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Isomaki HA, Hakulinen T and Joutsenlahti U (1978) Excess risk of lymphomas, leukemia and myeloma in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. J Chronic Dis 31: 691–696

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jones MK, Wang H, Peskar BM, Levin E, Itani RM, Sarfeh IJ and Tarnawski AS (1999) Inhibition of angiogenesis by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: insight into mechanisms and implications for cancer growth and ulcer healing. Nat Med 5: 1418–1423

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kune GA, Kune S and Watson LF (1988) Colorectal cancer risk, chronic illnesses, operations, and medications: case control results from the Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study. Cancer Res 48: 4399–4404

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Laurén (1965) The two histological main types of gastric carcinoma: diffuse and so-called intestinal-type carcinoma. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand 64: 31–49

  • Lupulescu A (1996) Prostaglandins, their inhibitors and cancer. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 54: 83–94

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marchildon PA, Ciota LM, Zamaniyan FZ, Peacock JS and Graham DY (1996) Evaluation of three commercial enzyme immunoassays compared with the 13C urea breath test for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection. J Clin Microbiol 34: 1147–1152

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marnett LJ (1992) Aspirin and the potential role of prostaglandins in colon cancer. Cancer Res 52: 5575–5589

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Misumi A, Murakami A, Harada K, Baba K and Akagi M (1989) Definition of carcinoma of the gastric cardia. Langenbecks Arch Chir 374: 221–226

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morales TG (1997) Adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia. Dig Dis 15: 346–356

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg L, Palmer JR, Zauber AG, Warshauer ME, Stolley PD and Shapiro S (1991) A hypothesis: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reduce the incidence of large-bowel cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 83: 355–358

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rothman KJ (1986). Modern epidemiology, Little Brown: Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Sawaoka H, Kawano S, Tsuji S, Tsuji M, Sun W, Gunawan ES and Hori M (1998a) Helicobacter pylori infection induces cyclooxygenase-2 expression in human gastric mucosa. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 59: 313–316

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sawaoka H, Kawano S, Tsuji S, Tsujii M, Gunawan ES, Takei Y, Nagano K and Hori M (1998b) Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors suppress the growth of gastric cancer xenografts via induction of apoptosis in nude mice. Am J Physiol 274: G1061–G1067

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sawaoka H, Kawano S, Tsuji S, Tsujii M, Murata H and Hori M (1998c) Effects of NSAIDs on proliferation of gastric cancer cells in vitro: possible implication of cyclooxygenase-2 in cancer development. J Clin Gastroenterol 27: S47–S52

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schreinemachers DM and Everson RB (1994) Aspirin use and lung, colon, and breast cancer incidence in a prospective study. Epidemiology 5: 138–146

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shiff SJ and Rigas B (1997) Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and colorectal cancer: evolving concepts of their chemopreventive actions. Gastroenterology 113: 1992–1998

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thun MJ, Namboodiri MM, Calle EE, Flanders WD and Heath CW Jr (1993) Aspirin use and risk of fatal cancer. Cancer Res 53: 1322–1327

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tsuji S, Kawano S, Sawaoka H, Takei Y, Kobayashi I, Nagano K, Fusamoto H and Kamada T (1996) Evidences for involvement of cyclooxygenase-2 in proliferation of two gastrointestinal cancer cell lines. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 55: 179–183

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zaridze D, Borisova E, Maximovitch D and Chkhikvadze V (1999) Aspirin protects against gastric cancer: results of a case-control study from Moscow, Russia. Int J Cancer 82: 473–476

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, 171 77, Sweden

    K Akre, A M Ekström & O Nyrén

  2. International Epidemiology Institute, 1550 Research Boulevard, Rockville, MD 20850, USA

    L B Signorello

  3. Mora Hospital, Mora, S-792 37, Sweden

    L-E Hansson

Authors
  1. K Akre
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. A M Ekström
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. L B Signorello
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. L-E Hansson
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. O Nyrén
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

From twelve months after its original publication, this work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Akre, K., Ekström, A., Signorello, L. et al. Aspirin and risk for gastric cancer: a population-based case–control study in Sweden. Br J Cancer 84, 965–968 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.1702

Download citation

  • Received: 20 September 2000

  • Revised: 10 January 2001

  • Accepted: 12 January 2001

  • Published: 03 April 2001

  • Issue date: 06 April 2001

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1054/bjoc.2001.1702

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Keywords

  • gastric cancer
  • aspirin
  • NSAIDs
  • Helicobacter pylori

This article is cited by

  • DNA methylation silencing of microRNA gene methylator in the precancerous background mucosa with and without gastric cancer: Analysis of the effects of H. pylori eradication and long-term aspirin use

    • Jiro Watari
    • Chiyomi Ito
    • Hiroto Miwa

    Scientific Reports (2019)

  • Associations between aspirin use and the risk of cancers: a meta-analysis of observational studies

    • Yan Qiao
    • Tingting Yang
    • Zuxun Lu

    BMC Cancer (2018)

  • Cumulative Dose Threshold for the Chemopreventive Effect of Aspirin Against Gastric Cancer

    • Min-hyung Kim
    • Jooyoung Chang
    • Sang Min Park

    American Journal of Gastroenterology (2018)

  • Role of inflammatory gene variants in Helicobacter pylori-related gastric cancer ⁎

    • Miao Li
    • Jun Li
    • Hongda Lu

    Oncology and Translational Medicine (2015)

  • Cyclooxygenase-2 and Gastric Cancer

    • Alexandra Thiel
    • Johanna Mrena
    • Ari Ristimäki

    Cancer and Metastasis Reviews (2011)

Download PDF

Advertisement

Explore content

  • Research articles
  • Reviews & Analysis
  • News & Comment
  • Current issue
  • Collections
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Sign up for alerts
  • RSS feed

About the journal

  • Journal Information
  • Open access publishing
  • About the Editors
  • Contact
  • Special Issues
  • For Advertisers
  • Subscribe

Publish with us

  • For Authors & Referees
  • Language editing services
  • Submit manuscript

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

  • Explore articles by subject
  • Find a job
  • Guide to authors
  • Editorial policies

British Journal of Cancer (Br J Cancer)

ISSN 1532-1827 (online)

ISSN 0007-0920 (print)

nature.com sitemap

About Nature Portfolio

  • About us
  • Press releases
  • Press office
  • Contact us

Discover content

  • Journals A-Z
  • Articles by subject
  • protocols.io
  • Nature Index

Publishing policies

  • Nature portfolio policies
  • Open access

Author & Researcher services

  • Reprints & permissions
  • Research data
  • Language editing
  • Scientific editing
  • Nature Masterclasses
  • Research Solutions

Libraries & institutions

  • Librarian service & tools
  • Librarian portal
  • Open research
  • Recommend to library

Advertising & partnerships

  • Advertising
  • Partnerships & Services
  • Media kits
  • Branded content

Professional development

  • Nature Awards
  • Nature Careers
  • Nature Conferences

Regional websites

  • Nature Africa
  • Nature China
  • Nature India
  • Nature Japan
  • Nature Middle East
  • Privacy Policy
  • Use of cookies
  • Legal notice
  • Accessibility statement
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Your US state privacy rights
Springer Nature

© 2025 Springer Nature Limited