Aspirin may reduce your risk for liver & ovarian cancer

Regular aspirin tablets every week can help reduce the risk of developing common liver cancer, also known as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to recent research. HCC is usually diagnosed at the final stage, with an average survival time of less than a year and is considered the second leading cause of cancer deaths globally. Scientists from the Massachusetts General Hospital in the US have found that The scientists defined “a regular basis” as taking two or more 325-milligram tablets per week for five years or more – led to a significantly reduce the risk of liver cancer (HCC).

Liver cancer (HCC) is not a particularly common type of cancer, but it has been on the rise over the past few decades. Someone’s risk of developing liver cancer (HCC) is advanced if they already have other liver diseases, such as hepatitis B or hepatitis C.

According to two separate long-term studies of health professionals since the 1980’s, regular use of aspirin at specific doses appeared to decreased reduce the risk of liver cancer and ovarian cancer as well. On the other hand use of, nonaspirin NSAIDs did not reduce the risk for HCC and appeared to increase the risk for ovarian cancer.

Use of aspirin to reduce the risk of liver cancer have been studied in the past. Previous studies on lab animals have suggested that the regular use of anti-inflammatory medication may help reduce the risk. However, the researchers believe its too early for clinical use of aspirin. There is a lack of studies that show effectiveness in preventing other types of cancer and regarding the appropriate dose and frequency for prevention. Evidence for cancer prevention is mixed within the fields of ovarian cancer and HCC. There isn’t enough compelling evidence for physicians to make any recommendation for liver disease.

For the study, researchers examined over 30 years of data on more than 134,000 participants — 46,000 women and 88,000 men — who took aspirin regularly – how many standard-dose (325 mg) tablets they took a week and for how long.

At the end of the study, researchers found a significant connection between taking two or more tablets a week and reduction of liver cancer risk. Taking that minimum dosage led to a 49 percent reduction in the risk of developing HCC. If aspirin use was stopped the reduced risk for developing HCC ended after eight years again.

The researchers believe that the long duration of aspirin use could be necessary because primary liver cancer takes many years to develop. Aspirin probably useful at the earliest stages of cancer development, or even at precancerous stages,  by delaying or preventing inflammation or liver fibrosis.

Among the participants, researchers also observed 1,054 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer, where low-dose aspirin taken regularly appeared associated with a 23% lower risk for ovarian cancer compared with nonusers. On the other hand, aspirin use at the standard dosage did not seem to decrease the risk of ovarian cancer. Scientists did not observe any association between ovarian cancer and aspirin use when current use of any-dose aspirin compared with nonusers.

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