Taking aspirin regularly may reduce a person's risk for a certain type of brain cancer, a new study finds.

In the study, researchers found that people who regularly took aspirin had a nearly 34 percent lower risk of a type of brain tumor called a glioma, compared with people who didn't take aspirin regularly.

This is not the first study to look at the link between over-the-counter pain relievers and brain cancer risk. However, the results of previous studies have been inconsistent, according to the researchers, who presented their new findings at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting.

Indeed, the type of brain tumor the researchers focused on in this study can be difficult to study because it's relatively rare, said Dr. Rose Lai, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Southern California and the lead author of the study. Previous studies have had very few participants, she said.

The new study is one of the largest done to date on gliomas, Lai told Live Science.

In the study, the researchers compared about 4,000 patients with gliomas to an equal number of healthy people. Using questionnaires, the researchers gathered data on each person's history of pain-reliever use.

The researchers found that the longer a person reported taking aspirin regularly, the lower their risk of having a glioma, Lai said. The observed effects were similar to those seen in studies looking at aspirin use and colon cancer risk, she said. In those cases, it often takes time for the effects to "kick in," she said.

Although the researchers did not explore any potential mechanisms for how aspirin may reduce a person's risk of glioma in the new study, many other studies have looked at this topic, Lai said.

The findings have not been published in a peer-reviewed journal.