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Taking
aspirin regularly over several years may help prevent
gastrointestinal cancers, a new study suggests. There was a
20 percent lower risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal
tract, especially in the colon and rectum, among people
taking aspirin, lead researcher said. But lead researcher
doesn't think people should start taking aspirin to prevent
cancer until more research is done. "The results of ongoing
research to develop more tailored treatment based upon a
personalized assessment of risks and benefits is critical
before recommending aspirin for preventing cancer," she
said. Moreover, patients and their doctors need to consider
the potential risks of taking aspirin, including stomach
bleeding, she added. However, "if considered alongside the
known benefits of aspirin in the prevention of heart attacks
and strokes, our data suggest the possibility that long-term
regular aspirin use may have a significant benefit in
prevention of the two leading causes of sickness and death
in the U.S. and much of the world," she said. For the study,
lead researcher and her colleagues collected data on 82,600
women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study in 1980 and
47,650 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up
Study in 1986. The researchers collected data on aspirin
use, risk factors for cancer and diagnoses of cancer. After
up to 32 years of follow-up, about 20,400 women and 7,570
men developed cancer, the investigators found. Among men,
prostate cancer was excluded. Research team found that men
and women who took a regular dose of aspirin (325
milligrams) two times a week or more had a lower risk of
cancer overall than people who did not regularly take
aspirin. The reduced risk was largely due to fewer cases of
gastrointestinal cancers, including colon cancer, rectal
cancer and esophageal cancer. Regular aspirin use was not
associated with a reduced risk of other cancers.
Specifically, no link was found between aspirin use and a
lower risk of breast cancer, advanced prostate cancer or
lung cancer, the researchers said. Moreover, the benefit of
aspirin in reducing overall cancer risk appeared to depend
on how much one took. So the more aspirin taken, the more
the risk was reduced. Amounts ranged from less than one
aspirin a week to 15 or more, the researchers said. Getting
the biggest benefit from aspirin required taking it for at
least 16 years. The benefit was no longer seen within four
years of stopping it, the researchers found. And the study
only showed an association between aspirin use and
gastrointestinal cancer risk, not a cause-and-effect
relationship. The association of aspirin with reduced cancer
risk was the same for women and men regardless of race,
history of diabetes, family history of cancer, weight,
smoking, regular use of other painkillers or taking
multivitamins, the study authors added. |