A study made on a large group of men with prostate cancer has shown that taking aspirin for cardiovascular protection on a regular basis could reduce the risk of dying of prostate cancer with almost 40 percent.
Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Christopher B. Allard, MD, reported the results of the research at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (GuCS). As published by the website Med Page Today, he declared that the findings of the new study require further analysis and confirmation before clear recommendations can be issued for the patients suffering of prostate cancer. This is one more reason to take into consideration regular aspirin use. Previous studies have shown similar results, as reported in the Natural Medicine Journal.
For men who took aspirin more than three times a week the hazard ratio for prostate cancer death was 0.61 compared to those who reported no aspirin use or less frequent use. Aspirin protective effects were also was associated with a 24 percent reduction of metastatic disease or lethal prostate cancer.
However, aspirin use did not decrease the risk of locally advanced disease or of total prostate cancer. Also, taking aspirin on a regular basis was not associated with any of the other prostate cancer risk categories and did not affect the chances of developing prostate cancer in the first place.
Allard said during a press briefing that preceded GuCS, Allard said that regular aspirin use may prevent prostate cancer and inhibit the lethal forms of the disease. According to the Harvard's professor, men with prostate cancer had reduced their risk of death if after the diagnosis they took aspirin regularly.
However, Allard explained that the findings of the new study do not show a significant decrease of chances to develop prostate cancer through aspirin use. Aspirin seems to not be able to prevent developing the disease but rather to just reduce the risk of death. Also, more studies are needed in order to determine the optimal aspirin dose and identify those groups of patients most likely to benefit from aspirin use.
