A new study has found that taking low-dose aspirin could reduce chance of cancer. This study has been published within the Lancet. Eight previous studies were reviewed for this research. All told, about 25,500 patients’ details was included. While the study is promising, there are significant spaces and doctors don’t immediately recommend starting an aspirin regimen.
Danger of cancer death appears to be reduced with aspirin
British researchers were on a team that did the meta-study published. They found that 75 milligrams of aspirin taken regular for five years or more reduces the risk of dying from cancer. The difference cancers had different amounts of decreasing. Esophageal cancer decreased 60 percent, gastrointestinal cancers reduced chances 54 percent and death from lung and prostate cancer went down 20 percent. Between 5 and 20 years were the daily low-dose aspirin taken. The research was not about cancer originally. It was about the effect that taking day-to-day aspirin has on cardiovascular effect.
Aspirin day-to-day is not the recommendation
Researchers do not suggest that you take aspirin day-to-day even though there was lots of improvement on surviving cancers with it. "Proof of principle" needs to be found with more studies. Also, the meta-study only had a few subjects in it. While aspirin is relatively safe, a day-to-day regimen can cause thinning of the blood, heartburn, loss of balance and ringing within the ears. “I definitely think we wouldn’t want to make any treatment decisions based on this study,” said Dr. Raymond DuBois, a provost of the University of TX M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Problems with the aspirin-cancer research
The same group of British researchers did both studies that showed the link between aspirin and improved cancer survival rates. There are many gaps that have to be looked at in the studies. Out of the 25,500 people in the main meta-analysis, only 33 percent were women. Less common cancers like brain and stomach cancer with low-dose aspirin weren't tested at all with the data. Finally, because the studies were initially designed to measure the benefit of aspirin on the heart, the subjects may be from a statistically skewed group of patients.
In the end, this aspirin cancer link is an exciting and possibly useful one, but there’s not almost enough research yet to safely recommend it as a treatment for a lot of people.
Citations
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/07/AR2010120701602.html
Business Week
businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/647054.html
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