Regular Aspirin Use and Mortality in Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Background: Inflammation is important in multiple myeloma pathogenesis, and regular aspirin use has been shown to confer a reduced risk of multiple myeloma. The influence of aspirin on survival after multiple myeloma diagnosis is unknown. Methods: We identified 436 men and women diagnosed with multiple myeloma between 1980 and 2016 in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses' Health Study who reported aspirin intake biennially on follow-up questionnaires. Using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models, we estimated HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) associated with the effect of aspirin use on multiple myeloma–specific and overall mortality. Results: Compared with nonusers, participants who used aspirin after diagnosis had a multivariable HR for multiple myeloma–specific mortality of 0.61 (95% CI, 0.46–0.79) and for overall mortality of 0.63 (95% CI, 0.49–0.80), after adjustment for age at diagnosis, year of diagnosis, sex, body mass index, prediagnosis aspirin use, and number of comorbidities. For postdiagnosis aspirin quantity, we observed a modest trend of reduction in multiple myeloma–specific and all-cause mortality with increasing number of 325-mg tablets of aspirin per week, although the CIs for 1 to Conclusions: These findings support the use of aspirin as a complementary strategy to enhance multiple myeloma survival. Impact: Confirmation in samples that have comprehensive clinical information is encouraged.