Aspirin may cut risk of breast cancer: study

London, May 3 (UNI) A daily dose of aspirin reduces a woman's chance of developing breast cancer by 16 per cent, a study claimed.

The latest research backs up a review of 21 studies which found that anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin reduce breast cancer risk by up to 20 per cent. About 45,000 women a year in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer.

According to Liz Baker, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said anyone considering taking aspirin regularly should consult their doctor first. "Weighing up the risks and benefits, it's too soon to recommend aspirin as a way of reducing the risk of cancer." Dr Gretchen Gierach and colleagues at the US National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Maryland, studied 126,124 women aged between 51 and 72. When the study started, none of the volunteers had breast cancer.

During follow-ups between 1995 and 2003, 4,501 of the women developed breast cancer. The team found that women who took aspirin daily were 16 per cent less likely to develop so-called oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Around three-quarters of breast cancers are oestrogen receptor positive.

Contrary to previous research, the study did not find a reduction in breast cancer risk overall in the group of women who used aspirin regularly, and did not find that other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reduced breast cancer risk.

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