Prolonged low-dose aspirin use may slash pancreatic cancer risk

A new study has revealed that continuous use of low-dose aspirin may lower the risk for developing pancreatic cancer.

The researchers said that the use of low-dose aspirin was associated with cutting the risk of pancreatic cancer in half, with some evidence that the longer low-dose aspirin was used, the lower the risk.

According to the study, men and women who took low-dose aspirin regularly had 48 percent reduction in their risk for developing pancreatic cancer and protection against pancreatic cancer ranged from 39 percent reduction in risk for those who took low-dose aspirin for six years or less, to 60 percent reduction in risk for those who took it for more than 10 years.

Harvey A. Risch of epidemiology in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, said that older studies of aspirin use have been clouded by the use of [regular- or high-dose] aspirin for pain relief from conditions that themselves might be related to the risk for pancreatic cancer.

Risch added that only recently have people been using low-dose aspirin for long enough times [to prevent cardiovascular disease] that the use might bear on risk of pancreatic cancer development and people who are considering aspirin use to reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease can feel positive that their use might also lower their risk for pancreatic cancer, and quite certainly wouldn't raise it.

The study was published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.