Aspirin May Cut Prostate Cancer Death Risk; Two Reports;

In a study presented at the January 2016 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), researchers from Harvard’s School of Public Health concluded that “men with prostate cancer who took aspirin regularly after diagnosis had a significantly reduced risk of death.”  Taking aspirin more than three times a week was associated with a 39% lower risk of dying from the disease compared to men who reported less frequent aspirin use.  The study evaluated data from 22,071 men who took part in the Physicians’ Health Study and who were tracked from 1982 to 2009.  Taking aspirin prior to a prostate cancer diagnosis was not shown to be beneficial as “aspirin use did not appear to affect the risk of prostate cancer development or rate of diagnosis.  It also did not affect the frequency of diagnosis of high-grade cancer or locally advanced cancer.  But it was proposed that in addition to its cardiovascular benefits, “regular aspirin use may inhibit lethal prostate cancer possibly by preventing cancer progression.”  Regular use was associated with a 24% lower risk of developing lethal prostate cancer.  It was noted that a recommendation to begin aspirin regimen solely for prevention of lethal prostate cancer is not warranted based on this study alone.  More work is needed to identify the particular subsets of men most likely to benefit from aspirin and to determine the optimal aspirin dose.  It was also learned that the results seen with aspirin did not extrapolate to the use of celebrex.  For more details, see the following link.