According to a new study, the regular use of drugs such as Celebrex and Vioxx significantly reduces the risk of breast cancer.

The study by Randall Harris and colleagues from the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health, Columbus, Ohio, the researchers found that the daily use of selective COX-2 inhibitors produced a 71% reduction in the risk of breast cancer.

They also found that drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen, also reduced the risk of breast cancer but not to the same extent.

The researchers believe the study highlights the potential of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for the prevention of breast cancer.

Harris and colleagues collected data on 323 patients with invasive breast cancer shortly after their diagnosis.

They matched the patients for age, race and county of residence with 649 control individuals with no personal history of cancer.

The data collected on the study group included information on breast cancer risk factors, and the use of selective COX-2 inhibitors and other NSAIDs.

They found that the group of drugs which come under the bracket of selective COX-2 inhibitors, when taken daily for at least two years, reduced the risk of breast cancer.

It appears that a daily dose of 200 mg Celebrex reduced the risk of breast cancer by 83% and a daily dose of 25 mg Vioxx reduced the risk of breast cancer by 64%.

Regular use of aspirin (325 mg), ibuprofen (200mg) and naproxen (250 mg) taken at least every other day for at least five years, also significantly reduced the risk of breast cancer, but less so than regular intake of selective COX-2 inhibitors.

The study is published in the journal BMC Cancer.