Cancer Prevention Overview (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version

Changes to This Summary (12/21/2018)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Description of the Evidence

Revised text to state that the effect of aspirin on cancer incidence seems to be limited to colorectal cancer in the secondary analysis of pooled data from seven placebo-controlled randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Also added text to state that another secondary analysis of cancer outcomes in a placebo-controlled RCT of aspirin/omega-3 fatty acid chemoprevention for cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes mellitus found no evidence of reduced gastrointestinal cancer risk caused by aspirin use, although the authors noted that the power to detect differences in cancer rates was low (cited 2018 Bowman et al. [N Engl J Med, pp 1529-39] as reference 32).

Added text about the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL), a placebo-controlled trial of two forms of supplementation, that found neither type of supplementation resulted in lower incidence of invasive cancer; because invasive cancer incidence was one of the primary endpoints of VITAL, the null results of VITAL provided strong additional evidence that even large doses of supplemental vitamin D have no discernible impact on cancer (cited 2018 Manson et al. [N Engl J Med, Vitamin D supplements and prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease] as reference 47; 2018 Manson et al. [N Engl J Med, Marine n-3 fatty acids and prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer] as reference 48; and Kearney et al., as reference 49). Also added text to state that the VITAL findings concerning omega-3 fatty acids agree with those from a secondary analysis of cancer outcomes in a placebo-controlled RCT of aspirin/omega-3 fatty acid chemoprevention for cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes mellitus ( 2018 Bowman et al. [N Engl J Med, pp 1540-50] as reference 50).

This summary is written and maintained by the PDQ Screening and Prevention Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of NCI. The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or NIH. More information about summary policies and the role of the PDQ Editorial Boards in maintaining the PDQ summaries can be found on the About This PDQ Summary and PDQ® - NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database pages.

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