Aspirin intake and head and neck cancer: A pooled analysis within the INHANCE consortium

Background: Aspirin intake might be inversely associated with head and neck cancer (HNC). Thus, we investigated this relationship within the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium. Methods: Four case-control studies within the INHANCE consortium were included (2024 cases, 4196 controls). Study-specific odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression and subsequently pooled with DerSimonian-Laird random-effects model. Nonlinearity of the relationship between duration of intake and HNC was modeled with fractional polynomials. Results: Aspirin was inversely associated with HNC overall (OR = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.26, 0.91). Results for laryngeal cancer were similar (OR = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.30, 0.96). Analysis on duration of intake confirmed findings for HNC overall, showing also inverse associations for oropharyngeal and laryngeal cancer. Conclusions: This study suggests that aspirin intake may reduce the risk of HNC, driven mainly by decreases in risk for laryngeal and oropharyngeal cancer.