Aspirin as a protection against cancer?

British researchers celebrate the world's most famous drug: aspirin

08/07/2014

Aspirin should protect against cancer and heart attack. The protective effect of the most well-known drug in the world should outweigh its risks, which include bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract and brain. In the online edition of the journal „Annals of Oncology“ Prevention expert Jack Cuzick of Queen Mary University of London and his research colleagues predict that the risk of cancer, heart attack and stroke will be reduced by a daily low dose of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) - between 75 to 325 milligrams over ten years - 7% for European women and 9% for male Europeans aged 50 to 65 years.

Preventive use of aspirin could reduce number of cancer and heart attack cases
If aspirin is taken prophylactically, its protective function against cancer and heart attack outweighs the risks of damage to health from bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract and brain, the researchers write. For the first time, the drug was synthesized in 1897 in Elberfeld by the pharmaceutical company Bayer in its Rhine form. Patent protection was abolished many years ago, so that other manufacturers produce and offer ASA.

„For persons with an average risk of taking aspirin over the age of 10 years, aged 50 to 65 years, there would be a relative reduction of 7 percent (women) and 9 percent (men) in the number of cancer cases and heart attack or stroke events over a 15-year period and an overall four percent relative reduction in all deaths over a 20-year period“, the researchers write in the journal.

Aspirin can cause bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract and brain
Using the example of 100 women and 100 men, the physicians show how the regular intake of ASA, starting at the age of 55, would statistically affect the next 20 years: Out of 100 men, 11.5 would die from cancer - regardless of age aspirin ingestion. However, 1.5 of them could be saved by the means. In the case of cardiac death, 0.25 deaths from ASD could be prevented. On the other hand, the risks of aspirin are of a similar magnitude, in particular due to the increased bleeding tendency, which can lead to gastric bleeding and stroke. „Bleeding is the biggest health-related harm associated with aspirin, and its risk and death rate increase with age“, it says in the trade magazine. In particular, people over the age of 70 have an increased risk of an increased bleeding tendency.

„It has long been known that aspirin can protect against tumors such as colon cancer and esophageal cancer“, quotes the online edition of the „South German newspaper“ Cuzick. „So far, however, it was unclear whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.“ However, according to the newspaper, the euphoria of the researchers could also be linked to the fact that many of them work as consultants for Bayer. (Ag)