Aspirin may prevent pancreatic cancer

Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev (2014) doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-13-1284

Pancreatic cancer has one of the worst prognoses with just 3.7% of adults with the tumour in England surviving for at least five years, according to Cancer Research UK. However, regularly taking aspirin may halve the risk of developing pancreatic cancer.

Researchers from the USA interviewed 362 patients with pancreatic cancer and 690 controls. They considered 75 to 325 mg aspirin per day low-dose and doses higher than this as regular-dose.

Taking low-dose aspirin continuously for six years or less reduced the risk of pancreatic cance by 37%, for between six and ten years by 59% and for more than ten years by 60%. Taking regular-dose aspirin continuously for six years or less reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by 73%, for between six and ten years by 39% and for more than ten years by 11%. The declining benefit may reflect patients' use of regular-dose aspirin to alleviate symptoms of early pancreatic cancer (such as abdominal discomfort radiating to back pain). Compared with using aspirin at the time of interview, stopping aspirin within the previous two years was associated with a trebling in the risk of pancreatic cancer (odds ratio 3.24).