Painkillers don't protect against melanoma

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Lab evidence suggests that the class of painkillers known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) could play a role in preventing melanoma, but a large study has failed to find any evidence to support this possibility.

Dr. Maryam M. Asgari at Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland and colleagues analyzed data on approximately 64,000 white individuals aged 50-76 years with no history of melanoma when they enrolled between 2000 and 2002.

The subjects reported their use of NSAIDs -- including aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, celecoxib, rofecoxib, piroxicam and indomethacin -- during the previous 10 years. Information was also collected on lifestyle, diet, cancer risk factors, and family history of skin cancer.

Almost two-thirds of the subjects had regularly taken an NSAID at least once a week for 1 year in the decade prior to study enrollment, the researchers report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Overall, 349 new cases of malignant melanoma occurred by the end of 2005.

"After adjusting for melanoma risk factors and indications for NSAID use, no association between NSAID use and melanoma risk was found," Asgari's group reports.

They also discerned no link between the dose of any NSAID and the aggressiveness of melanomas.

"The search must continue for a good chemopreventive agent for melanoma," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, June 24, 2008.