Int J Cancer

Frequent ibuprofen use tied to lower endometrial cancer risk

September 10, 2025

Frequent ibuprofen use, but not aspirin, may confer a protective effect against endometrial cancer, particularly in women with CV comorbidities. This diverges from prior literature, which has shown inconsistent or modest associations for both aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs.

Study details: A prospective cohort analysis was conducted using data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial, enrolling 42,394 women aged 55 to 74 years (1993–2001) with follow-up through 2009. The study assessed the association between aspirin and ibuprofen use and incident endometrial cancer (EC), with 678 EC cases identified over a median 12-year follow-up.

Results: High-frequency ibuprofen use (≥30 pills/month) was associated with a statistically significant reduction in EC risk (fully-adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.58–0.98), with a more pronounced effect among women with a history of CVD (HR, 0.57; 95% CI 0.37–0.87). In contrast, aspirin use showed no association with EC risk in the overall cohort (HR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.81–1.19) or in any subgroup.

Source:

Zhao Y, et al. (2025, August 21). Int J Cancer. Association of aspirin and ibuprofen use with endometrial cancer risk in the PLCO dataset. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40838337/