Post-Diagnosis Aspirin Use Not Linked with Breast Cancer-Specific Mortality

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

Post-diagnosis initiation of aspirin use in women with breast cancer was not linked to a decline in breast cancer-specific mortality, according to an article published online in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

The study included women between the ages of 50 to 80 who were diagnosed with stage I-III breast cancer.  The women were chosen from Ireland’s National Cancer Registry (N = 4,540) and the information about the initiation of the post-diagnosis aspirin use was gathered from linked national prescription refill data (N =764).

Modified hazard ratios (HRs) were approximated for correlations between de novo post-diagnosis aspirin use and all-cause, breast cancer-specific mortality.

Results revealed that the median time from breast cancer diagnosis to de novo aspirin initiation was 1.8 years.  A majority of the women (95%) was taking less than 150 mg/day and the days’ supply of aspirin received had a mean value of 631.

No relationship was found between de novo aspirin use and breast cancer specific mortality (HR, 0.98; 95% CI:, 0.74, 1.30).

Similarly, no association was found in women taking high-intensity doses of aspirin (HR, 1.03; 95% CI: 0.72, 1.47) or women initiating de novo aspirin in the 1.5 years after diagnosis (HR, 1.04; 95% CI: 0.77, 1.40).

This study suggests further analysis and understanding of aspirin’s mechanism of action be conducted to help design future studies in breast cancer.