Regular use of opium is associated with higher risk of developing a broad array of cancer types

New results from an international prospective study, published today in The Lancet Global Health, provide robust evidence indicating that regular use of opium is associated with higher risk of developing cancers in different organs of the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts and the central nervous system.

This report is based on more than 10 years of follow-up of more than 50 000 individuals within the Golestan Cohort Study, which was initiated in 2004 by the Digestive Disease Research Institute of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (Islamic Republic of Iran), in collaboration with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and the United States National Cancer Institute.

Because of the high priority of this topic and the emerging evidence, the IARC Monographs programme will evaluate the carcinogenicity of opium use to humans in September 2020.

Sheikh M, Shakeri R, Poustchi H, Pourshams A, Etemadi A, Islami F, et al.
Opium use and subsequent incidence of cancer: results from the Golestan Cohort Study
Lancet Glob Health, Published online 28 April 2020;
https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30059-0

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