Aspirin dose ‘can prevent cancer’

A daily dose of aspirin can do more than just help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, City of Hope, a cancer treatment and research centre in the United States, said on its website on Monday.  As it turns out, the benefits of aspirin can also include cancer prevention.

A study led by Leslie Bernstein from the centre found that women who take low-dose – also known as “baby” aspirin – at least three times a week have a 20 per cent lower risk of developing HR-positive or HER2-negative breast cancer, which are among the most common subtypes of breast cancer.

The research used data from more than 57,000 women and is the first to suggest the reduction in risk is associated with low-dose aspirin.

Bernstein tells CNN one reason for the finding may be that aspirin can lower inflammation.

“Simple things like obesity or inflammatory conditions are a risk factor for breast cancer, so this may be one reason it could help,” she says.

The study differed from others that have looked at aspirin and cancer risk because it focused on dose levels and dose frequency. Bernstein was also able to look in detail at subtypes of breast cancer.

“The study found an interesting protective association between low-dose aspirin and breast cancer,” lead author Christina A. Clarke from the Cancer Prevention Institute of California says. “We did not by and large find associations with the other pain medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. We also did not find associations with regular aspirin since this type of medication is taken sporadically for headaches or other pain, and not daily for prevention of cardiovascular disease.”

The paper is titled “Regular and low-dose aspirin, other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications and prospective risk of HER2-defined breast cancer: the California Teachers Study”. It is in the Breast Cancer Research journal.