A team of British researchers has evaluated reams of data from eight studies originally intended to investigate aspirin's effectiveness in preventing cardiovascular events.They wanted to learn whether daily aspirin lowered death risk from cancers other than colorectal,an effect of aspirin which was already established.
Using individual patient data from all randomised trials of daily aspirin versus no aspirin,and using evidence such as death certificates and cancer registries for follow-up,the team indeed found a significant preventive effect of daily aspirin against many different cancers.
Lead by corresponding author Professor Peter M. Rothwell,FMedSci,the researchers concluded that daily aspirin reduced deaths due to several common cancers during and after the trials.The authors went on to say that benefit increased the longer treatment with aspirin continued and was consistent across study populations.
In the authors' view,the findings have implications for aspirin usage guidelines and the understanding of carcinogenesis and its susceptibility to drug interventions.
The benefit of daily aspirin outweighed its risk of causing bleeding ulcers,they believe.Several people who posted comments on the article disagreed with that opinion,however.
Among cancer deaths reduced by daily aspirin were those caused by prostate,lung,pancreatic,colorectal and esophageal/throat cancer.The reduction percentages ranged from 10-60%.
The article was just published in the journal The Lancet.
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