Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Can aspirin reduce breast cancer recurrence?

According to a new study published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, there was an association between frequent use of aspirin and lower risk of dying from cancer.

Researchers used survey data from US Nurses' Health Study to examine the effect of aspirin on breast cancer recurrence and survival including over 4000 nurses between 1980 and 2006. They found that women who took aspirin after finishing breast cancer treatment were half as likely to die from the disease compared with those who did not use aspirin regularly. However, the researchers pointed out that the participants were all nurses, the results may not be applied to the general population and they called for a randomised controlled trial to establish whether aspirin really caused the reduced risks they had found.

Previous studies on aspirin's anticancer effects have come to mixed conclusions, experts warned that patients should not start taking aspirin as there are risks associated with taking aspirin including bleeding and gastrointestinal complications.

Source: Holmes MD, Chen WY, Li L, et al. "Aspirin Intake and Survival After Breast Cancer". Journal of Clinical Oncology 2010 ( f/t via Athens)

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