A team of researchers from Ohio State University (USA) has discovered that ibuprofen can also reduce the risk of death from lung cancer in smokers, both ex-smokers and active smokers. The study has been presented at the XVII World Conference on Lung Cancer in Vienna (Austria).
Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, with an association in around 80-90% of cases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people who smoke are 15-30 times more likely to develop lung cancer or die from it than non-smokers.
Since ibuprofen is a drug that reduces inflammation, the scientists set out to investigate whether this drug might benefit smokers.
Researchers analyzed data from 10,735 adults who were part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994), examining the consumption of ibuprofen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as well as other factors on the style of testing. lifetime. The participants were followed over a period of 18 years , identifying their specific cause of death. During this time, 269 of them died of lung cancer.
The findings pointed to ex-smokers or current smokers who regularly used ibuprofen were 48% less likely to die from lung cancer than those who did not take this drug.
” These results suggest that regular use of certain NSAIDs may be beneficial for high-risk subgroups of smokers as a lung cancer prevention strategy,” explains Marisa Bittoni, leader of the work.
The relationship between the risk of death from lung cancer and aspirin use was not statistically significant, according to the authors.
