Aspirin may lower risk of ovarian cancer

Taking a low-dose of aspirin daily may help women lower their risk of developing ovarian cancer by 23 per cent, suggests a new study.

Ovarian cancer is the most fatal gynaecological cancer, largely due to lack of early detection strategies and is believed that the inflammation that occurs during ovulation plays a role in the development of this cancer.

Aspirin is thought to lower cancer risk by reducing inflammation.

The findings, led by researchers from H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Centre and Research Institute in the US, showed that low-dose aspirin use was associated with a lower risk of ovarian cancer while standard-dose aspirin use increased the risk, their findings revealed.

Conversely, women who took non-aspirin anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen (Advil) or naproxen (Aleve) - at least 10 tablets per week for many years, had an increased risk of developing the disease.

"We're not quite at the stage where we could make the recommendation that daily aspirin use lowers ovarian cancer risk. We need to do more research. But it is definitely something women should discuss with their physician," said Shelley Tworoger, Associate Centre Director from the varsity.

For this study, published in the journal JAMA Oncology, the team analysed data on more than 2,00,000 women among which 1,054 developed ovarian cancer.

In addition, researchers looked at the participants' use of aspirin (325 milligrams), low-dose aspirin (100 milligrams or less), non-aspirin NSAIDs and acetaminophen.