|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
|
 |
Daily
aspirin use linked with pancreatic cancer Women who take an aspirin a day, which millions do to
prevent heart attack and stroke as well as to treat headaches, may raise
their risk of pancreatic cancer, The surprising finding worried doctors, who say women will now have to
talk seriously with their physicians about the risk of taking a daily
aspirin. Pancreatic cancer affects only 31,000 Americans a year, and kills
virtually all its victims within three years. The study of 88,000 nurses found that those who took two or more
aspirins a week for 20 years or more had a 58 percent higher risk of
pancreatic cancer. "Apart from smoking, this one of the few risk factors that have
been identified for pancreatic cancer," Dr. Eva Schernhammer of "Initially we expected that aspirin would protect against
pancreatic cancer, especially since its preventive role in colorectal
cancer has been well documented. However, now it appears that we need to
examine the relationship more thoroughly," Schernhammer added in a
statement. "This finding does not mean that women should no longer use
aspirin. There are still important benefits to the drug; we also need
other large cohort studies to confirm our finding before we can draw any
conclusions." Schernhammer and colleagues presented their findings to a meeting in They studied 88,378 women taking part in a large and wide-ranging study
of nurses and their health. Over 18 years, 161 of the nurses developed
pancreatic cancer. Those who took 14 tablets or more per week had an 86 percent greater
risk of pancreatic cancer than non-users. The nurses who took between six
and 13 tablets had a 41 percent higher risk, while those who only took one
to three aspirins a week had an 11 percent greater risk. The women who took the most aspirin said they were taking it not to
protect against heart disease, but because of headaches or other aches and
pains. Even with the increased risk, heart disease is a much greater threat to
a woman's, or a man's, health. It is by far the biggest killer in the Doctors do not clearly understand what causes pancreatic cancer, or
what makes it so deadly. Obesity is another risk factor, but Schernhammer
said her team's findings held regardless of a woman's weight, whether she
smoked and whether she had diabetes. Schernhammer noted that one study showed that regular aspirin use may
cause pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that can sometimes
precede pancreatic cancer. "There is urgent need to settle the biologic reasons for
pancreatic cancer," she said. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
