Daily aspirin fights ovarian cancer
Aspirin and acetaminophen can help women lower their risk of developing ovarian cancer, according to a recent study in the British medical journal The Lancet.1
Researchers found an inverse association between the use of acetaminophen, aspirin, and ovarian cancer risk. Doctors from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon, NH, compared 563 women from eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire who had ovarian cancer with 523 healthy women who all used over-the-counter analgesics. The women without ovarian cancer were more likely to have used an analgesic once a week for at least six months. The most significant association was found between acetaminophen use and ovarian cancer risk; a minor association with aspirin use; and none with ibuprofen use.
Only 4.6% of the cancer patients had used acetaminophen, compared with almost 9% of the healthy women in the study. When it came to aspirin, 14.2% of the healthy women had taken it, compared with 11.2% of the women with ovarian cancer.
This is the first reported association between acetaminophen and ovarian cancer, according to the study. Doctors involved in the study say that more testing and research should be done before any public health recommendations are made concerning the findings.
Reference
1. Cramer DW, et al. Over-the-counter analgesics and risk of ovarian cancer. The Lancet 1998; 351:104-107.
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