March 12, 2008
Regular use of aspirin and possibly other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce breast cancer risk by as much as 20%, but it is still not clear if the risks of long-term treatment outweigh the potential benefits, a review of the research shows.
The good news from the studies is that aspirin does seem to protect against breast cancer, study shows.
The bad news is that the protective effect was not seen with lower doses of the pain reliever, like those routinely given to protect against heart attacks and strokes, researcher says.
Long-term use of aspirin carries the risk of serious side effects, such as stomach bleeding and ulcers.
There have not been enough studies of other NSAIDs, like the Cox-2 inhibitors (such as Celebrex), to determine if they too have protective benefits, researcher says.
Aspirin and Breast cancer
Studies included women with breast cancer, while the remaining 10 compared women who had the disease with those who did not.
The studies showing a protective benefit for NSAIDs against breast cancer were found to be of higher quality than those showing no link between NSAID use and breast cancer risk.
Recent studies using NSAIDs have shown about a 20% risk reduction in the incidence of breast cancer but this benefit may be confined to aspirin use alone and not to other NSAIDS, researcher write.
Source: webmd.com
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