Regular use of aspirin may reduce your risk of dying from cancer - New Research claims
According
to a new study on long-term regular aspirin use and different kinds of
cancer, an aspirin a day may reduce your chances of dying from cancer.
Yin
Cao, an instructor in the Medicine, Clinical and Translational
Epidemiology Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical
School, presented the information at the American Association for Cancer
Research meeting in Washington.
Cao
looked at data from over 86,000 women who were part of the Nurses'
Health Study between 1980 and 2012 and over 43,000 men who were part of
the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study from 1986 to 2012.
Over
that 32-year period, over 8,200 women and nearly 4,600 men died of
cancer. The risk of death overall was 7% lower for women and 11% for men
who took aspirin regularly, compared with those who did not. The risk
of dying from cancer was 7% lower for women and 15% lower for men who
took aspirin regularly, compared with those who didn't take a regular
dose. The strongest connection was with colorectal cancer:
There
was a 31% lower risk for women and 30% for men who were among regular
aspirin takers, as other studies have showed. But it also lowered
women's risk of dying from breast cancer by 11% and men's risk of dying
from prostate cancer by 23%. Men's risk of dying from lung cancer was
also lower.
"Evidence
has been accumulating very rapidly showing aspirin works in reducing
cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality," Cao said. "It is good to
remember, though, if a person wants to take a low-dose aspirin,
especially if a person has had cancer, they will want to have an initial
conversation with their doctor first."
Not
everyone can take aspirin, particularly if you are at high risk for
ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding. Studies have showed an increased
risk of both when taking a daily aspirin, but the benefit does outweigh
the risk for most other people.
Studies
have also found that aspirin can help patients who have had (or are at
high risk for) a heart attack or stroke, and of course it is a good drug
to relieve pain. Even the ancient Egyptians used the natural form of it
for pain relief centuries ago.
In
April 2016, the US Preventive Service Task Force said in a final
recommendation statement that taking a regular low-dose aspirin a day
may prevent colon cancer and cardiovascular disease for adults between
50 and 69 who have a 10% or greater risk of cardiovascular disease or
colorectal cancer.
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