03.12.13
Could aspirin help reduce skin cancer?
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicinehave discovered that women who took aspirin on a regular basis reduced their risk of developing this skin cancer. In addition, results of the study , which was published in the March 11 edition of Cancer, showed that the longer women took aspirin, the lower their risk.
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicinehave discovered that women who took aspirin on a regular basis reduced their risk of developing this skin cancer. In addition, results of the study , which was published in the March 11 edition of Cancer, showed that the longer women took aspirin, the lower their risk.
The data for the study was drawn from the Women's Health Initiative,a broad demographic of postmenopausal U.S. women ages 50-79 who volunteered to provide information about their lives — think activity, sun exposure history, diet and medication usage — for an average of 12 years to help researchers understand factors that may affect the development of cancer and other diseases.
The study focused on the data of roughly 60,000 Caucasian women who were selected because less skin pigment is a risk factor for melanoma. The Stanford researchers found that those who took aspirin decreased their risk of developing melanoma by an average of 21%. In addition, the protective effect increased over time, as there was an 11% risk reduction at one year and a 22% risk reduction between one and four years. There was as much as a 30% risk reduction at five years and beyond.