A new study suggests a daily aspirin could lower women's risk of ovarian cancer, but the researchers noted that it's still too early for clinical recommendations to be made.
The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, involved analysis of 12 previous epidemiological studies that included 8,000 women with ovarian cancer and nearly 12,000 women without ovarian cancer.
Researchers examined associations between ovarian cancer risk and use of different medications: aspirin (regularly used by 18 percent of participants), non-aspirin NSAIDs (regularly used by 24 percent of participants) and acetaminophen (regularly used by 16 percent of participants).
Those who used aspirin on a daily basis had a 20 percent lower ovarian cancer risk, compared with those who only used aspirin less than once a week, according to the study.
The risk of ovarian cancer was also 10 percent lower for women who used non-aspirin NSAIDs weekly compared with women who used them less frequently, but researchers noted this decreased risk was not statistically significant. Meanwhile, there was no association found between acetaminophen use and ovarian cancer risk.
But "however intriguing our results are, they should not influence current clinical practice," study researcher Britton Trabert, Ph.D., of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, said in a statement. "Additional studies are needed to explore the delicate balance of risk-benefit for this potential chemopreventive agent, as well as studies to identify the mechanism by which aspirin may reduce ovarian cancer risk."
Aspirin has been linked with lower risk of other cancers in other studies, including colon and skin cancers. It's also been associated with a decreased risk of breast cancer recurrence. Researchers noted that people should talk to their doctors about starting an aspirin regimen, since side effects of the medication could include upper gastrointestinal bleeding and hemorrhagic stroke.