Abstract
Objectives
Several studies addressed the association between antibiotic use and breast cancer
risk. The objective of this study was to assess the association between antibiotic
use and risk of cervical, ovarian, and uterine cancer.
Study design
We carried out a population-based case-control study using data from Saskatchewan
Health administrative databases (Canada) between the years 1981 and 2000. Cases were
matched to 4 controls, using incidence density sampling. The effect of dosage and
timing of antibiotic use, over a minimum of 15 years before diagnosis, on cervical,
ovarian, or uterine cancer risk was assessed. Number of prescriptions and number of
pills were used as exposure definitions. The effect of different classes of antibiotics
on cancer risk was also studied.
Results
A total of 1225 cancer cases [192 cervical, 445 ovarian, and 588 uterine] and 4900
matched controls were included in this study. Antibiotic exposure (number of prescriptions)
during the period of 1–15 years in the past was significantly associated with a reduced
risk of cervical cancer; Relative Risk (RR) = 0.40, 0.31, 0.26, and 0.29 for the four exposure quartiles, respectively. No association
was found for ovarian or uterine cancer. When number of pills was considered, similar
results were found. There was no effect of the timing or class of antibiotic exposure
on cervical cancer risk.
Conclusions
Antibiotic exposure up to 15 years in the past was associated with a decreased risk
of cervical cancer. The lack of temporal trends and the absence of class specific
effects suggest a non-causal relationship.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 27, 2011
Accepted:
June 9,
2011
Received in revised form:
April 27,
2011
Received:
January 31,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
