The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7239 p324
8 March 2003

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British Journal of Cancer abstract (more)

Aspirin cuts risk of three cancers

Regular, long-term use of aspirin appears to cut the risk of developing cancers of the mouth, throat and oesophagus by two-thirds, Italian researchers report.

They analysed data from three case-control studies involving 965 cancer patients and 1,779 people who were in hospital for other conditions. Patients had provided information about smoking and drinking habits, diet, and how often they took aspirin.

The researchers found that regular users of aspirin (those who used aspirin at least once a week for more than six months) had a lower risk of oral and pharyngeal, oesophageal and laryngeal cancers than those who had not used aspirin.

Among regular users who had taken aspirin for five years or more, there were seven cases of these types of cancer compared with 40 cases among controls (odds ratio 0.33, 95 per cent confidence interval 0.13–0.82).

Commenting on the study, Dr Richard Sullivan, head of clinical programmes at Cancer Research UK, said: "We are not at the stage where we can recommend that everyone starts taking aspirin on a daily basis, as we will need to further investigate its effectiveness and possible side effects of long-term use. However, it looks as though the drug could become an important part of cancer prevention."

The study is published in the British Journal of Cancer (2003;88;672).