Now
linked to lower cancer mortality
From: David A
Gabel, ENN.com
The amazing medicine discovered at the turn of the 20th
Century by German chemists working at Bayer Pharmaceutical, aspirin, has become
synonymous with the treatment of aches and pains, fevers, and inflammation.
It is one of most
widely used medications in the entire world. About 40,000 metric tons of it is
consumed each year.
New uses of this amazing medicine, derived originally from
the salicylic acid found in willow bark and the spiraea shrub, are constantly
being tested.
Most recently, it was looked at by researchers at the
American Cancer Society (ACS) in Atlanta, Georgia. They found that daily intake
of aspirin, regardless of whether or not one is sick, is associated with lower
overall cancer mortality.
The study was led by Dr. Eric J. Jacobs at the ACS
Epidemiology Research Program. They looked at previously conducted randomized
trials of daily aspirin use as a preventive measure for vascular events. The
results showed a significant decrease of 37 percent during the 5-year follow
up, and a 15 percent decrease during the 10-year follow up.
However, the lengths of the follow-up analysis were not
long enough to show what the real long-term effects of daily aspirin use are.
To find out, Dr. Jacobs and his colleagues looked at data on over 100,000 men
and women who had no prior history of cancer, but had been taking a daily dose
of aspirin.
Among the over 5,000 patients who died of cancer, the daily
aspirin use was linked with slightly lower cancer mortality. "Our results
are consistent with an association between recent daily aspirin use and
modestly lower cancer mortality," the authors write.
According to an accompanying editorial by John A. Baron
M.D., of the Department of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School
of Medicine, "The drug clearly reduces the incidence and mortality from
luminal gastrointestinal cancers, and it may similarly affect other
cancers."
He also notes that the ACS findings may be on the
conservative side. However, he cautions against reckless use of aspirin and
risks involved. "As for any preventative intervention, the benefits must
be balanced against the risks, particularly when the benefits are delayed
whereas the risks are not."
This study has been published in the Journal of
the National Cancer Institute