A daily dose of aspirin can help cancer patients. According to a recent study, “the life expectancy of patients affecting the gastrointestinal tract” can be doubled. It is now commonly thought that the analgesic, if used frequently “can prevent bowel cancer” but this latest study also shows that “men and women with a range of cancers… experience a significant survival benefit compared with those who do not,” reports The Guardian.
Aspirin can help cancer patients live longer
The study which took place in the Netherlands used “14,000 cancer patients.” It found that those people who regularly used aspirin were twice as likely to still be alive after a four-year period as those who do not take the cheap drug.” Dr. Martine Frouws, the trial coordinator, presented the findings of the Leiden University study, at the “2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna.” She said that the findings will have a great impact on health-care systems. She added that, “Now we would like to analyse tumor material from these patients to try to discover which ones would benefit from aspirin treatment.”
Many people are now taking a daily dose of the over-the-counter drug to help prevent certain cancers. According to Cancer.org, the U.S. Prevention Services Task Force (USPSTF) has just released the latest “draft recommendations around the use of aspirin to prevent disease, including… colorectal cancer.” USPSTF is appointed by the government as a panel of medical experts whose “recommendations are highly influential in guiding what doctors tell their patients.”
The use of aspirin is problematical, since regular use can cause stomach bleeding. The guidelines suggest that certain adults who are “high risk” should take a daily dose of the analgesic, but no “public health organizations, including the American Cancer Society, recommend taking aspirin solely to reduce cancer risk.”
According to Medical News Today, the finding of a study last month determined that a daily dose of the painkiller “may reduce the risk of colorectal cancer.” This latest Netherlands study claims that the over-the-counter drug can “boost treatment responses in patients with breast, skin, and bowel cancers.”
To determine the survival impact of taking aspirin, the researchers “linked patient data with drug dispensing information from the PHARMO Institute in Utrecht.” Dr. Frouws said, “In this study we analyzed each separate prescription per patient, and therefore we were able to achieve a more exact estimate of the effect of aspirin on cancer survival.”
According to Medical News Today, the USPSTF recommend that “people ages 50-59” [who are high risk] take [the painkiller] daily to lower risk of heart attack and stroke.” However, it seems to be controversial as to whether a daily dose of aspirin can help prevent cancers in people who are not high risk.
By Shirley Good
Photo by Simon D – Creative Commons License