http://www.aspirin-foundation.com/uses/pregnancy.html
Pregnancy
Complications
Pre-eclampsia and fetal growth retardation, both caused by
blockages of the blood vessels of the placenta, are two of the commonest
complications of pregnancy – there are 50,000 cases of pre-eclampsia in
Britain a year. In a trial involving more than 9000 women in 16 countries,
a daily dose of 60mg aspirin reduced the risk of pre-eclampsia by 13 per
cent. Earlier research suggested that the benefits were even greater.
Cancer Reduction:
Pancreatic 53%, colorectal 50%, lung 33%
The results are even more significant when it is done for
those taking aspirin daily for 10 or more years. A large number of people
are on daily
aspirin either because they are in the high-risk coronary group or for
arthritis. Since cancer results from
the slow accumulation of cellular changes over many years, a drug which
slows the accumulation of changes would be more significant in preventing
cancer when taken over a longer time-frame.--jk
Evidence is mounting that regular aspirin usage may reduce the risk of many
of today's commonest cancers. First indications of this were in colon
cancer. In a long term study of 90,000 US nurses between 1976 and 1995
those who took 4-6 tablets of aspirin per week had a greatly reduced incidence
of colorectal cancer compared with nurses who did not take aspirin. The
longer the nurses had been taking aspirin the greater the protection they
gained.
More
recently, a
study involving 14,000 women has shown that those who had reported using
aspirin 3 or more times per week for at least 6 months were one third less
likely to develop lung cancer compared with women who had taken no aspirin.
The risk reduction was even greater for non-small cell lung cancer.
Also
recently
published is a study of the effect of aspirin usage in pancreatic cancer
incidence in 28,000 post-menopausal women. In those individuals who took
aspirin 2-5 times per week, the risk of developing pancreatic cancer was
53% lower than in those women who had never taken aspirin. The more often
the women took aspirin, the lower their risk of cancer.
What
dose of
aspirin to use, how frequently to use it and even exactly how it works are
still unknown but more work is being done to clarify these issues. What is
clear from the accumulating evidence is that regular use of aspirin really
does seem to reduce the risk of a growing range of the commonest and most
serious cancers.
Diabetes
Blindness, coronary artery disease, stroke and kidney failure are all
common complications of diabetes resulting from impaired blood circulation.
The benefits of taking one aspirin a day are now so widely accepted that it
is considered unethical to perform placebo controlled trials to prove the
case.
Dementia
(including Alzheimer’s disease)
Some forms of dementia affects about one in four people aged 70 years or
above. There is some evidence that aspirin may help prevent both the
condition resulting from impaired blood flow and the most serious form of
dementia, Alzheimer’s disease. The latter is believed to be an inflammatory
condition similar to arthritis.
Aspirin
is a
highly effective anti-inflammatory drug and a preliminary study found a
lower than expected incidence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, who
frequently have to take aspirin over a prolonged period. An important trial
in South Wales is following the fortunes of 400 men and studying the
factors (including aspirin consumption) that may determine the incidence of
dementia. However, volunteers are still being signed up for the trial and
conclusive results will not be ready for some time.
New Study Reveals Aspirin’s
benefits for Prostate Cancer
Patients
Aspirin may increase
prostate cancer survival
Source:
(cancerfacts.com)
Monday, October 04, 2004
ATLANTA – Oct. 4,
2004 – Men with prostate cancer might survive longer by regularly taking
aspirin, a new study suggests.
While there have been other studies showing regular use of aspirin or other
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) seems to reduce the risk of
developing various cancers, including prostate cancer, this is one of the
first to suggest that such drugs may help men with prostate cancer live
longer.
The study led by Dr. K Khanh H. Nguyen, a radiation oncologist at Fox Chase
Cancer Center was presented today at the 46th Annual Meeting of the
American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).
"Pretreatment NSAID use was associated with significant delays in
distant metastases, decreased rates of second cancers and improvement in
overall survival," lead author Nguyen said in a news release.
"Our data suggest a potential benefit of NSAIDs in managing prostate
cancer."
The Fox Chase study involved 1,206 men who had definitive radiation therapy
for localized prostate cancer. The researchers compared long-term treatment
outcomes of 232 patients who had used NSAIDs regularly before treatment
with the outcomes of the 974 men with no history of regular NSAID use.
Other characteristics, such as smoking, were balanced between the two
groups. The follow-up period averaged more than four and a half years.
After taking into account other variables such as age, Gleason score and
radiation dose, the use of anti-inflammatory drugs remained a predictor for
improved overall survival.
Laboratory studies have suggested that by inhibiting the COX-1 and COX-2
enzymes, NSAIDs may enhance programmed cell death (apoptosis) and inhibit
the development of blood vessels (angiogenesis) that feed a tumor. The Fox
Chase researchers concluded that inhibiting these COX enzymes holds promise
in prostate cancer treatment and warrants further studies.
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Copyright © 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004. All rights reserved. This information
is for educational purposes only.
New Study Quantifies Coronary Benefits
of Aspirin
An Update on Aspirin in the Primary
Prevention of
Cardiovascular Disease
Rachel Eidelman, Patricia Herbert, Steven Weisman,
&
Charles Hennekens, from Arch Intern Med, vol. 163, Sept. 22, 2003.
A meta-study using 5 published trials
from 1988 to present,
totaling 55,580 randomized participants.
Results:
Among the 55,580
randomized participans (11,466 women) aspirin was associated with a
statistically signficiant 32% reduction in the risk of a first MI and a
significant 15% reduction in the risk of all important vascular events, but
hand no significant effects on non-fatal stroke or vascular death.
LONG TERM ASPIRIN USAGE REDUCES
ALZHEIMERS DISEASE
Neurology, 2002;59:880-886
Method: In 1995 to 1996
elderly (age 65+) county residents were assessed for dementia, with current
and former use of NSAID, aspirin, and H2RA as well as three other “control”
medication classes also noted. Three
years later, interval medication histories were obtained and 104
participants with incident AD were identified among the 3,227 living
participants.
Results: By contrast,
former NSAID users showed substantially reduced incidence (estimated hazard
ration = 42), with a trend towards greatest risk reduction among those with
extended exposure. Similar patterns
appreared with aspirin but not with any other medicines.
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