‘One dose of aspirin, reduces 10% ovarian cancer risk’

One dose of aspirin has been tied to a 10 percent reduction in developing ovarian cancer, two new studies have revealed. They also revealed that it could help women boost their survival should ovarian cancer develop. Aspirin low-dose was also tied to as much as a 30 percent improvement in survival for ovarian cancer patients […]

One dose of aspirin has been tied to a 10 percent reduction in developing ovarian cancer, two new studies have revealed.

They also revealed that it could help women boost their survival should ovarian cancer develop.

Aspirin low-dose was also tied to as much as a 30 percent improvement in survival for ovarian cancer patients by the researchers.

According to them, there is increasing evidence that inflammation plays a role in the development of cancer and can worsen outcomes.

Medications, such as aspirin and non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including ibuprofen  have already been shown to lower the risk of certain types of cancers, most notably colon cancer.

Dr Mitchell Kramer who directs obstetrics and gynaecology at Northwell Health in Houston, New York, United States of America, said the studies offer evidence of the benefit of the use of these anti-inflammatory drugs, and an insight into how to better prevent and treat this deadly disease.

Dr Kramer recommended a daily low-dose 81mg (milligram) aspirin which he said might be more than an ounce of prevention, as well as help for those women who have already developed the disease.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cancer killer of women, largely because it is too often detected too late.

Researchers from the United States National Cancer Institute and the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa,  pooled data from 13 studies from around the world. The studies included more than 750,000 women and asked them about their use of aspirin and NSAIDs. The researchers then tracked these women to see who developed ovarian cancer; more than 3,500 women did.

A senior study author and associate center director for population science at the Moffitt Cancer Center,  Shelley Tworoger said, “this study gives us a new perspective on whether aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs can impact cancer risk. Not only does it look at ovarian cancer, which hasn’t been studied before, our sample size is three quarter of a million women who were followed for several decades.”

She added that the results of the study support that aspirin can reduce ovarian cancer risk, but further studies will need to be performed before a recommendation of daily aspirin can be made.

In the second study, researchers from the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and the Moffitt Cancer Center used the Nurses’ Health Studies to collect data on nearly 1,000 women already diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

The investigators found that women who used aspirin and non-aspirin NSAIDs after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer experienced as much as a 30 percent improvement in survival.