VITAL: No link between acetaminophen, risk for cancer

Walter RB. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2011;doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-11-0709.

Issue: November 10, 2011

Acetaminophen, one of the most common over-the-counter analgesic-antipyretics, is not associated with an increased risk for total cancer or most major non-hematologic cancer sites, according to results from a study of more than 60,000 Americans.

Earlier results from Vitamins and Lifestyle (VITAL) study showed that high use of acetaminophen was associated with a near doubling of risk for hematologic malignancies. These results reflect a closer examination between the association between acetaminophen and cancer risk in this cohort of adults aged 50 to 76 years.

Participants (n=62,841) completed a questionnaire on demographics, health history, cancer risk factors, diet and medications at baseline. They were then stratified into three groups based on their frequency and duration of acetaminophen use during the previous 10 years: no use, low use (<4 days per week or <4 years) and high use (≥4 days per week and ≥4 years).

At a mean follow-up of 6.5 ± 1.7 years, high use of acetaminophen was not associated with total cancer risk overall (HR=1.02; 95% CI, 0.89-1.17) or by gender (women: HR=0.97; 95% CI, 0.80-1.17; men: HR=1.08; 95% CI, 0.88-1.31). Researchers also found no statistically significant associations with risks for total gastrointestinal, lung, urinary tract, female, prostate or melanoma skin cancers.

Researchers also conducted an exploratory cancer subgroup analyses. Although the study was underpowered to detect significant associations because of the small number of cases of individual cancer types, high acetaminophen use was associated with statistically insignificantly increased risk for bladder cancer (HR=1.50; 95% CI, 0.57-3.89) and decreased risk for aggressive prostate cancer (HR=0.74; 95% CI, 0.45-1.21) and pancreatic cancer (HR=0.40; 95% CI, 0.12-1.31).

Follow HemOncToday.com on Twitter.