Aspirin Improves Breast Cancer Survivorship

In that animal and laboratory studies suggest that aspirin may inhibit breast cancer metastasis, Michelle D. Holmes, from Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts, USA), and colleagues studied whether aspirin use among women with breast cancer decreased their risk of death from breast cancer.  The team analyzed data collected from 4,164 female registered nurses in the Nurses' Health Study who were diagnosed with stages I, II, or III breast cancer between 1976 and 2002 and were observed until death or June 2006, whichever came first. Excluding aspirin use assessments in the first year after diagnosis because its use is discouraged during chemotherapy, the researchers found that among these women who survived for more than a year after diagnosis, those who used aspirin more were less likely to subsequently die from breast cancer, with an aspirin at least two days a week significantly reducing breast cancer death risk by 64% to 71%,   The team concludes that: “Among women living at least 1 year after a breast cancer diagnosis, aspirin use was associated with a decreased risk of distant recurrence and breast cancer death.”