Aspirin associated with decreased risk for breast cancer recurrence and death

Source: ACP Internish 2/23/10

Aspirin associated with decreased risk for breast cancer recurrence and death

Women with breast cancer who take aspirin after their diagnosis may be less likely to experience recurrence or die of the disease, a new study reports.

Researchers used data from the Nurses’ Health Study to perform a prospective observational study of aspirin use in 4,164 women diagnosed with stage I, II, or III breast cancer between 1976 and 2002. Patients were observed until June 2006 or until death. The study’s main outcome measure was risk for death from breast cancer, according to number of days that aspirin was taken per week. Aspirin use was first assessed 12 months after cancer diagnosis because it is contraindicated during chemotherapy. The study results were published online Feb. 16 by the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
 
During follow-up, 341 women died of breast cancer. The adjusted relative risks (RRs) for breast cancer death with one, two to five, and six to seven days of aspirin use per week versus no use were 1.07 (95% CI, 0.70 to 1.63), 0.29 (CI, 0.16 to 0.52) and 0.36 (CI, 0.24 to 0.54), respectively. The association was not affected by adjustment for stage, menopausal status, body mass index, or estrogen-receptor status. The adjusted RRs for recurrence were 0.91 (CI, 0.62 to 1.33), 0.40 (CI, 0.24 to 0.65), and 0.57 (CI, 0.39 to 0.82) for the same aspirin use categories compared with no use.

The study was limited because some data were obtained by self-report and because the authors did not have information on aspirin dose, among other factors. However, the authors concluded that aspirin may have a beneficial effect on survival after a breast cancer diagnosis. They called for additional studies on aspirin’s mechanism of action in this population, including a possible randomized trial.