05 Mar Is Low-Dose Aspirin Protective After Prostate Cancer Diagnosis?

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Charlotte Skriver, PhD student, MSc
Danish Cancer Society Research Center
Statistics & Pharmacoepidemiology
Danish Cancer Society
Copenhagen 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?  

Response: The drug aspirin is widely used due to its established protection against cardiovascular diseases. Increasing evidence also supports an effect of aspirin use on reducing the risk of and mortality from colorectal cancer and possibly other cancer types. Recent studies have suggested that aspirin use after a diagnosis of prostate cancer may improve the prognosis.

We examined whether use of low-dose aspirin was associated with survival after prostate cancer in a nationwide study of prostate cancer patients in Denmark.

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? 

Response: Our results do not suggest an overall protective effect of low-dose aspirin used in the year after prostate cancer diagnosis on mortality from prostate cancer. However, a small reduction in prostate cancer mortality after five years from diagnosis was seen among patients who took low-dose aspirin for an extended period of time.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: This study did not find convincing evidence of an overall protective effect of low-dose aspirin for men with prostate cancer. The reduction in prostate cancer mortality after five years from prostate cancer diagnosis needs confirmation in future studies, and any potential benefit of low-dose aspirin use on prostate cancer mortality needs to be weighed against the risk of bleeding associated with use of this drug.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this work? 

Response: Future studies should include information on duration, dose and timing of aspirin use. Furthermore, future studies should examine whether a potential protective effect of aspirin use on prostate cancer mortality may be present within subgroups of men defined by e.g. genetic, lifestyle or clinical factors. 

Any disclosures?

The study was funded by the Danish Cancer Society 

Citation:

Use of Low-Dose Aspirin and Mortality After Prostate Cancer Diagnosis
A Nationwide Cohort Study
Charlotte Skriver, MSc; Christian Dehlendorff, MSc, PhD; Michael Borre, MD, PhD, DMSc; Klaus Brasso, MD, PhD; Signe Benzon Larsen, MSc, PhD; Susanne Oksbjerg Dalton, MD, PhD; Mette Nørgaard, MD, PhD; Anton Pottegård, MSc, PhD; Jesper Hallas, MD, DMSc; Henrik Toft Sørensen, MD, PhD, DMSc; Søren Friis, MD
Published: Ann Intern Med. 2019.
DOI: 10.7326/M17-3085

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Last Updated on March 5, 2019 by Marie Benz MD FAAD