Low-dose aspirin does not cut death from prostate cancer

(HealthDay)—Low-dose aspirin use does not appear to reduce the overall risk for prostate cancer death, according to a study published online March 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Charlotte Skriver, from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen, and colleagues used a nationwide data registry to assess the association between postdiagnosis use of low-dose aspirin (at least two prescriptions [75 to 150 mg] filled within one year after prostate cancer diagnosis) and prostate cancer mortality. The authors note that 29,136 patients were diagnosed from 2000 through 2011.

During a median of 4.9 years of follow-up, 7,633 patients died of prostate cancer and 5,575 died of other causes. The researchers observed an association between postdiagnosis low-dose aspirin use and prostate cancer-specific mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.95; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.89 to 1.01) and other-cause mortality (aHR, 1.12; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.05 to 1.20). Prostate cancer mortality was slightly reduced with postdiagnosis exposure to low-dose aspirin periods of five years (aHR, 0.91; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.83 to 1.01) and 7.5 years (aHR, 0.84; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.72 to 0.97), particularly among patients filling prescriptions for a large quantity of low-dose aspirin tablets during the 7.5-year period.

"Results for extended exposure periods suggest that low-dose aspirin use might be inversely associated with prostate cancer mortality after five years from cancer diagnosis," the authors write.

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