Aspirin can double life expectancy of gastrointestinal cancer patients

A major study has found that daily doses of aspirin can double the life expectancy of patients with cancers affecting the gastrointestinal tract.

Researchers in Netherlands analyzed data from nearly 14,000 patients suffering from a range of cancers, around half of whom were regular aspirin takers.

After a 4-year follow-up period, those who took the anti-inflammatory painkiller were twice as likely to still be alive compared to those who didn’t take aspirin daily.

Factors that influence the survival rate such as, age, gender, stage of cancer, other medical conditions, and treatments were taken into account before the impact of aspirin on survival was identified.

The coordinator of the trial Dr. Martine Frouws believes that the findings could have a great impact on patients and national healthcare system.

“Now we would like to analyze tumor material from these patients to try and discover which ones would benefit from aspirin treatment,” said Frouws from Leiden University in the Netherlands.

“Through studying the characteristics of tumors in patients where aspirin was beneficial, we should be able to identify patients who could profit from such treatment in the future.

Given that aspirin is a cheap, off-patent drug with relatively few side-effects, this will have a great impact on healthcare systems as well as patients,” she said.

Most common types of cancer in these patients were colon, rectum and esophagus.

The researchers are going ahead with a randomized control trial to investigate the survival of elderly bowel cancer patients in the Netherlands by giving them a daily dose of 80mg of aspirin. The effects of aspirin and placebo will be compared in this trial.

Researchers plan to expand the study at a later date that will include gastrointestinal cancer patients, which they hope will provide convincing proof that the aspirin treatment will benefit more patients.
“We have good evidence that the frequent use of aspirin in the population can prevent some cases of colorectal (bowel) cancer, said Prof Peter Naredi, scientific co-chair of the congress.

“Now, Frouws and colleagues show that in over 13,000 patients who were diagnosed with a gastrointestinal cancer, aspirin also improved survival compared with those who did not use it.
“With more and more data to support the beneficial role of aspirin, we must consider whether we should recommend it to a wider public,”

Dr. Martine Frouws presented the findings at the 2015 European Cancer Congress in Vienna.

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Long-term use of low-dose Aspirin may lower risk of colon cancer

A new study has found that taking one or two low-dose aspirins every day for at least 5 years could reduce the risk of developing colon cancer in men and women.

Colon cancer is the third most common cancer in the world. Excluding skin cancers, it is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the US. In UK, 16,187 deaths were reported from bowel cancer in 2012.

The study published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that men and women who took one or two low doses (75 to 150 mg) of aspirin a day for at least five years saw a 27 percent lower risk of bowel cancer.

Although, earlier studies had suggested that aspirin and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may prevent colorectal cancer, it was unclear on the amount, and the length of time in order to achieve the benefits. 

The latest study was done by researchers at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. 

The participants included 10,280 adults with first-time colorectal cancer and 102,800 adults who acted as the control group. Diet, weight and exercise were excluded from the study. 

"It is important to evaluate the association between aspirin or other NSAIDs in the general population, as well as within selected study populations of high-risk individuals with colorectal cancer, including persons with familial/hereditary disposition, previous history of colorectal adenomas or cancer or obesity, while balancing the chemopreventive effects against the potential harms," said Soren Friis, senior scientist and associate professor at Aarhus University Hospital.

“Unless low-dose aspirin is taken continuously, there is little protection against colorectal cancer,” Dr. Friis told Reuters Health. 

People should also take into account that long-term aspirin use could cause gastrointestinal bleeding. Taking other types of NSAIDs for a long time could increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Researchers also noted that the findings do not prove that painkillers reduce the risk of colon cancer, but there is a connection between the two. 

"The protective association is certainly amazing, and it's a good example of how everyday drugs can have unexpected benefits," said study co-author Dr. John Baron of University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

"But there are also potential risks ... I don't think we should imply or recommend that these medications be taken for cancer prevention without working closely with a physician.”

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Daily aspirin intake could lower the risk of cancer in overweight people

Overweight people who frequently take aspirin at night lowers their risk of getting cancer, according to a new research. 

British researchers assessed the effects of aspirin during a 10-year study of 937 participants with Lynch syndrome – a type of inherited cancer associated with a genetic predisposition to different cancer types. To put it simply, people with Lynch syndrome have a higher risk of getting cancer, especially colon and womb cancer. 

Scientists from 16 countries were involved in the research. They discovered that overweight people were twice the risk of developing colon cancer. But, the risk could be reversed if these patients were administered a regular dose of aspirin.

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, and was funded by the Cancer Research UK, UK Medical Research Council, Bayer Pharma and the European Union.

"This is important for people with Lynch Syndrome but affects the rest of us too," says study author Sir John Burn, a professor of clinical genetics at Newcastle University in the UK. 

“Obesity increases the inflammatory response. One explanation for our findings is that the aspirin may be suppressing that inflammation which opens up new avenues of research into the cause of cancer,” he explained.”

The study showed that the benefits of aspirin seemed to occur before the earliest stages of developing tumor. They believe that this is due to the fact that aspirin may affect cells that are predisposed to becoming cancerous over time. 

"We may be seeing a mechanism in humans whereby aspirin is encouraging genetically damaged stem cells to undergo programmed cell death," Prof. Burn suggested. "This would have an impact on cancer."

The scientists examined the progress of participants with Lynch syndrome who were randomly assigned to either take two aspirins (600 mg) a day for 2 years or a placebo.

When the participants were followed up 10 years later, it showed that a total of 55 had developed bowel cancer. They found that overweight people were more likely, in fact 2.75 times more likely to develop cancer than those who were of normal weight. 

“Our study suggests that the daily aspirin dose of 600 mg per day removed the majority of the increased risk associated with higher BMI (body mass index),” explained professor Tim Bishop from the University of Leeds and the leader on the statistics for the study.

The researchers however cautioned that before anyone decides to take aspirin on a daily basis, they should consult their doctor first; Aspirin is known to cause ulcers and other stomach complications.

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