Aspirin cuts risk of death in cancer patients by 20%, study shows

Painkiller is ‘not a possible alternative to any other treatment’ on its own, researchers stress

The everyday medication thins the blood (AP)

Cancer patients who take aspirin alongside their treatment could cut their risk of death by 20 per cent, a review has suggested.

While stressing that it is “not a possible alternative to any other treatment”, scientists said that the medication has “biological mechanisms” that help reduce mortality risk, as well as stopping the spread of cancer within the body.

The researchers said the common painkiller could reduce the risk of death in colon, breast and prostate cancer patients, adding that “serious consideration” could be given to using the medications in conjunction with other therapies to treat cancer.

As well as cutting mortality risk among cancer patients, the painkiller is taken by millions around the world every day to protect against heart attacks and strokes, as aspirin thins the blood.

The major study, published in the open-access journal eCancermedicalscience, reviewed 118 observational studies, which included 250,000 patients with 18 different cancers.

Lead author Professor Peter Elwood, honorary professor at Cardiff University who has studied the effects of aspirin for more than 50 years, said: “Overall, we found that at any time after a diagnosis of cancer, about 20 per cent more of the patients who took aspirin were alive, compared with patients not taking aspirin.

“Our research suggests that not only does aspirin help to cut risk of death, but it has also been shown to reduce the spread of cancer within the body – so-called metastatic spread.

He said that the review showed that there is “a considerable body of evidence” suggesting mortality is significantly reduced in cancer patients who take aspirin, and that the “benefit appears to not be restricted to one or a few cancers”.

Elwood added: “Aspirin therefore appears to deserve serious consideration as an adjuvant treatment of cancer, and patients with cancer and their carers should be informed of the available evidence. However, we must also stress that aspirin is not a possible alternative to any other treatment.”

After contacting the authors of the individual studies considered in the review about the risks of taking aspirin, the researchers found that while a small number of patients had experienced a bleed, there was no evidence of any excess deaths attributable to bleeding.

With more than 1,000 clinical trials on aspirin reported each year, Elwood encouraged more research into using aspirin to treat cancer, calling for more research to focus on less common cancers.

There are about 367,000 new cancer cases in the UK every year, according to Cancer Research UK.