Aspirin, cancer and age
New research by scientists has shown that aspirin does not protect against cancer, but in the elderly, on the contrary, accelerates its development.
In elderly people, taking aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) increases the risk of cancer progression and death. These conclusions were reached by scientists who for almost five years have been observing patients over 65 who received small doses of aspirin.
The results of the study are published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (McNeil et al., Effect of Aspirin on Cancer Incident and Mortality in Older Adults). Earlier, the same scientists found out that aspirin in small doses (100 mg) it is useful for younger people, and it was concluded that acetylsalicylic acid does not affect the risk of cancer in the short term.
This time, scientists have set a goal to find out the long-term effect of taking aspirin in the age group over 65 years. The observation was carried out on average for 4 years and 7 months. Its participants were 19,114 residents Australia and the USA without cardiovascular diseases, dementia or physical disabilities. One group of participants received 100 mg of aspirin, the other received a dummy medicine.
As a result, 981 cases of cancer were recorded in the aspirin group and 952 in the placebo group. The researchers called this difference statistically insignificant. But it turned out that those who took aspirin, cancer progressed faster, metastases appeared or it developed to stage 4.
Also, in the "aspirin" group, there was a higher mortality rate among the participants of the experiment diagnosed with cancer, regardless of whether it was localized or with metastases. This was most pronounced in patients with solid stage 3 and stage 4 cancer at the time of detection, as well as with colorectal cancer. As noted in the publication, there was no such effect in leukemias and lymphomas.
Scientists conclude that in older people aspirin can accelerate the progression of cancer, and urge to be very careful when using it for those who are over 65 years old.
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