Aspirin Evidence from a new study suggests that regularly taking small doses of aspirin for five years or more can reduce your risk of dying from cancer. The study was led by Professor Peter Rothwell from the University of Oxford and published in The Lancet. The researchers looked at the results of five different trials that included over 25,000 people. The trials weren’t designed to look at cancer, but they did record cancer deaths, which came to 674 in total.
The results of this study showed that people who took at least 75 milligrams of aspirin – a quarter of a normal 300mg tablet – a day, had about 20 per cent less risk of dying because of cancer. "These results do not mean that all adults should immediately start taking aspirin," said Professor Peter Rothwell of the Department of Clinical Neurology at Oxford University. "But they do demonstrate major new benefits that have not previously been factored into guideline recommendations."
Aspirin is well known as a painkiller, but it also helps to lower the risk of blood clots forming in the arteries of the heart (cutting your risk of heart attack by about one third) or brain (cutting your risk of stroke by approximately one quarter). Current guidelines suggest that people with cardiovascular disease take a low dose of aspirin a day. Some people with the heart condition atrial fibrillation, which increases your risk of forming blood clots, and stroke, also take this low dose. However, the risk of side effects – especially bleeding in the stomach – has meant that daily doses of aspirin haven’t been recommended for people without these conditions.
"Previous guidelines have rightly cautioned that in healthy middle-aged people the small risk of bleeding on aspirin partly offsets the benefit from prevention of strokes and heart attacks, but the reduction in deaths due to several common cancers will now alter this balance for many people," said Professor Rothwell.
The study found that the benefits of taking aspirin were only apparent after taking it for five years or more. The scientists feel that this suggests aspirin works by slowing or preventing the early stages of cancer, which means that the beneficial effects aren’t seen until much later. After taking aspirin for five years, the statistics from the trials show that death rates were 34% lower for all cancers, and up to 54% less for gastrointestinal cancers, including oesophagus, stomach, bowel, pancreas and liver cancers. Cancer Research UK calculated that if 100,000 people took aspirin every day for at least five years, a total of about 56 deaths from cancer would be avoided.
"I don’t think it’s necessarily right for the person who did the research to say what guidelines should be," said Professor Rothwell. "We can’t say with absolute certainty that there won’t be some unknown harm in taking aspirin for 30 years, but it looks as if there would be pretty large benefits in reducing cancer deaths."
Should you add a small dose of aspirin to your daily routine? The advice is not to rush into this without talking to your GP, or possibly your pharmacist. This is particularly important if you already take other drugs to deal with existing medical conditions.
First published December 8, 2010