Tuesday, December 7, 2010

New Study Found That Low-Dose Aspirin Helps Prevent Many Types of Cancers

According to new research; low dose of aspirin on a regular basis could help to diminish the happening of numerous common cancers.

High doses of aspirin were already known to have a protective effect, but the latest article in the Lancet medical journal shows that even low doses can help to reduce the risk of dying from several forms of the disease.

The discovery could be important, as low doses of aspirin are less likely to cause side-effects, such as gastrointestinal bleeding.

Professor Tom Meade, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, commented: "These are very exciting and potentially important findings.

"They are likely to alter clinical and public health advice about low-dose aspirin, because the balance between benefit and bleeding has probably been altered towards using it."

The latest study looked at data contained in eight previous clinical trials, involving 25,570 patients.

It found that taking aspirin was associated with a 21 per cent lower risk of dying from cancer.

When the researchers analysed data collected for 20 years after the trials had ended, they found that patients who had previously taken aspirin had a 20 per cent lower risk of dying from solid cancers than those who had not.

They also had a 35 per cent lower risk of dying from gastrointestinal cancers.

Professor Peter Rothwell, from the John Radcliffe Hospital and the University of Oxford, said: "These results do not mean that all adults should immediately start taking aspirin, but they do demonstrate major new benefits that have not previously been factored into guideline recommendations."

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