A follow-up study shows that women who take regular doses of aspirin are less likely to get pancreatic cancer.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have followed a large group of postmenopausal women in the Iowa Women's Health Study. They asked how often the women took aspirin, or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Since these relieve pain in conditions like headache and arthritis, it's not uncommon to find people taking such medication on a regular basis.

Over the seven years of the study, the researchers looked to see how many women developed pancreatic cancer. They found that those women who took regular NSAIDs were less likely to develop pancreatic cancer - good news, because this is one of the cancers with a poor survival rate. It's probable that NSAIDs work to prevent the cancer by reducing inflammation. However, don't just start taking aspirin to prevent cancer - further research is needed to establish the benefits.

Source

Journal of the National Cancer Institute 7th August 2002