Mar. 12, 2002
     Prostate Cancer

SUBSCRIBE FREE

Browse Archives
by cancer site

n Lung

n Breast

n General

n Prostate

n Leukemia

n Lymphoma

n Skin Cancer

n Colon

n Gynecological

n Digestive cancers

n News/Issues

About Us

Front Page

Subscribe

Archives

Contact Us

An aspirin a day may help keep prostate cancer away

ROCHESTER, MINN. -- Mar. 12, 2002 (Cancer Digest) -- A new study suggests that regular use of aspirin, ibuprofen and other similar drugs may help protect against prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States.

The study found that men age 60 and older who used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) daily reduced their risk of prostate cancer by as much as 60 percent. The study also suggested that the beneficial effect may increase with age.

The research team led by epidemiologists Dr. Rosebud Roberts of the Mayo Clinic published its findings in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

"These numbers mean the proportion of men who used NSAIDs daily and developed prostate cancer was about half that of men who did not use NSAIDs daily -- four percent compared to nine percent," Roberts said in a prepared statement.

The study followed a subset of 1,362 men in a larger study of urinary tract diseases who were age 50 years and older in 1990. These men reported using 40 different prescription and over-the-counter NSAIDs at the beginning of the study and during five-and-half years of follow-up.

Of the 569 men who reported using NSAIDs daily, 23 developed prostate cancer, compared with 68 of 793 men in the same study who did not use NSAIDs daily and developed the disease.

"Further, the association between NSAIDs and prostate cancer appears to be stronger in older men," says Roberts. "The risk of prostate cancer among NSAID users was 12 percent lower in men age 50 to 59 years, 60 percent lower in men 60 to 69 years, and 83 percent lower in men age 70 to 79 years compared to men in those same age groups who did not use NSAIDs daily."

The results may mean good news for men, but Dr. Roberts cautions that more research needs to be done.

"Although our findings provide important information that NSAIDs may protect against prostate cancer, they are not conclusive," says Roberts. "More research needs to be done to show that the results we saw in our study were not unique to our study but can be confirmed in other similar studies," she said.

Roberts also points out that the study provides no information as to what duration and dosage needed to be taken to provide protection against prostate cancer nor what biologic mechanisms underlie the benefit.

Dr. Roberts added that since the study included only Caucasian men in southeastern Minnesota, it's not known whether the findings apply to men of all races.

"While our findings complement previous studies that NSAIDs help protect against breast and colon cancers, and possibly against prostate cancer, there are also negative side effects of NSAIDs that need to be considered and monitored in people who take NSAIDs on a daily basis," she says.