WASHINGTON – Aspirin, which has already been shown to cut the risk for heart attacks, also appears to reduce the chances that women will be stricken by breast cancer, researchers reported Tuesday.
The authors of the study said that the findings are tantalizing but that more research is needed before doctors can recommend that women take aspirin to ward off breast cancer.
The study appears in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association and was led by researchers Mary Beth Terry and Dr. Alfred Neugut of Columbia University.
A study involving 2,884 women found that those who took aspirin on a regular basis were about 28 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who never used the popular painkiller.
The findings are the latest in a series of studies that have indicated aspirin may do far more than relieve headaches, backaches and fevers. In addition to reducing the risk of heart attacks, several studies indicate it may cut the risk for various cancers, including breast cancer.
But scientists have remained uncertain whether aspirin reduces the chances of getting breast cancer because the level of protection appeared to be small, and some studies have failed to find any effect, raising questions about whether the association was real.
The study also tried to determine whether other types of commonly used painkillers had similar effects. It found that ibuprofen also appeared to reduce the risk, although the effect was much smaller, and that acetaminophen had no preventive effect.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
