Our results suggest that BBs and long-term use of ABs may prevent PC whereas calcium channel blockers or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors do not influence PC risk.

No abstract

Experimental studies suggest that NSAIDs could reduce prostate cancer risk. Results of observational studies on the relation between NSAIDs and prostate cancer risk have, however, been inconsistent. Moreover, none has addressed the issues of dosage, duration and timing of exposure. In a population-based, age-matched case-control study, we measured the association between prostate cancer risk and NSAIDs defined in terms of mean daily dose, cumulative duration and timing of exposure. Eight-year drug exposure history was obtained from the Quebec health insurance system database. Parallel analyses were performed for aspirin and NSAIDs other than aspirin. We controlled for detection bias and assessed the potential impact of protopathic bias. Analyses were performed with conditional logistic regression. Among the 2,221 cases and 11,105 controls, there was a negative trend between cumulative duration of aspirin use and prostate cancer risk (p ‫؍‬ 0.0009). Also, exposure to a mean daily dose of aspirin of at least 80 mg, maintained throughout the entire 8 years of follow-up, was associated with an 18% reduction in prostate cancer risk (OR ‫؍‬ 0.82, 95% CI 0.71-0.95). In more recent users of such a dose, the risk reduction was 7%. However, 1 year after the end of a 7-year regular aspirin exposure, no residual protective effect persisted. No association was observed between prostate cancer risk and exposure to NSAIDs other than aspirin. The results suggest that long-term and regular use of aspirin, at a dosage beneath that usually recommended for an anti-inflammatory effect, may prevent prostate cancer.

Scalp cooling can prevent chemotherapy-induced alopecia in some cancer patients. It is not used in all countries. No data are available regarding its impact, if any, on survival. The aim of this study was to compare overall survival according to whether or not scalp cooling was used during neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for non-metastatic breast cancer. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1,370 women with non-metastatic invasive breast carcinoma who received chemotherapy in the neoadjuvant or adjuvant setting. A total of 553 women who used scalp cooling came from a tertiary breast cancer clinic in Quebec City (diagnosed between 1998 and 2002) and 817 were treated in other hospitals in the province of Quebec (between 1998 and 2003) where scalp cooling was not routinely available. Overall survival of women who used scalp cooling and those who did not was compared using Cox proportional hazards models. Median follow-up for the scalp-cooled and the non-scalp-cooled groups was 6.3 years and 8.0 years, respectively. Overall mortality was no different (adjusted hazard ratio 0.89, 95 % confidence interval: 0.68-1.17, p = 0.40) among scalp-cooled women, compared to those not getting scalp cooling. Among women getting neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy for non-metastatic breast cancer, scalp cooling used to prevent chemotherapy-induced alopecia had no negative effect on survival. To our knowledge, this is the first study to compare survival of women who used scalp cooling to that of women who did not.