Regular Use of Painkillers Linked to Kidney Cancer

Taking popular pain killers on a regular basis for more than a decade could increase the risk of kidney cancer, a new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine reveals. Almost all of the popularly used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) drugs increased the risk of renal cell cancer by more than 50 percent with aspirin and acetaminophen being the only drug not connected with the increased risk.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Harvard Medical School who analyzed data among nearly 127,000 men and women over a period of two decades and found that regular use of non-aspirin NSAIDs for over a decade increased the risk of renal cell cancer by 51 percent while the risk fell by 19 percent if the drugs were discontinued after four years.

“NSAIDs have been associated with a reduced risk of several types of cancer, including colorectal, breast and prostate. Our study raises a contradicting possibility that non-aspirin NSAIDs may elevate the risk of certain types of cancer”, lead researcher Eunyoung Cho said.



Source-Medindia