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

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. 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. 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. This study suggests that aspirin intake may reduce the risk of HNC, driven mainly by decreases in risk for laryngeal and oropharyngeal cancer.