Daily Aspirin Use Linked with Pancreatic Cancer

Debbie said:

Now you have a choice, heart attack or cancer. Go here for complete
article.
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-
bin/news?e=pri&dt=031027&cat=news&st=newshealthcanceraspirindc

interesting, but I think that there is too much 'noise' in the population
sample...

"The women who took the most aspirin said they were taking it not to
protect against heart disease, but because of headaches or other aches and
pains."

.... and I am skeptical of the results. I hope CNN does not air this!

taking 81 mg aspirin daily is not the same as what this study was about!
--
~~~
Patrick Blanchard, M.D., A.B.F.P.
Board Certified in Family Practice

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 21:49:30 GMT in article
<[email hidden]> Matti Narkia

Quoted message said:

Some herbal extracts also inhibit 5-LOX [30-39].
These include aethiopinone, silymarin (silybin, silibinin) and boswellia
(boswellic acids). There are even herbal dual inhibitors, hyperforin (from
St. John's Wort) and ginger [40-41].

After a closer look hyperforin does not inhibit COX-2, but COX-1, i.e. it's
dual COX-1 and 5-LOX inhibitor. Ginger apparently inhibits COX-1, COX-2 and
5-LOX, although I would like to see this verified by some other studies.

Quoted message said:

Herbal dual 5-LOX and COX-2 inhibitors
--------------------------------------

Hyperforin (from St. John's Wort)
.................................

40: Albert D, Zundorf I, Dingermann T, Muller WE, Steinhilber D, Werz O.
Hyperforin is a dual inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-1 and 5-lipoxygenase.
Biochem Pharmacol. 2002 Dec 15;64(12):1767-75.
PMID: 12445866 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12445866&dopt=Abstract>

See above.

Quoted message said:

Ginger
......

41: Kiuchi F, Iwakami S, Shibuya M, Hanaoka F, Sankawa U.
Inhibition of prostaglandin and leukotriene biosynthesis by gingerols and
diarylheptanoids.
Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo). 1992 Feb;40(2):387-91.
PMID: 1606634 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1606634&dopt=Abstract>

--
Matti Narkia

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 21:49:30 GMT in article
<[email hidden]> Matti Narkia

Quoted message said:

Mon, 27 Oct 2003 20:23:37 GMT in article
<[email hidden]> "Debbie"

Quoted message said:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Women who take an aspirin a day -- which millions do to
prevent heart attack and stroke as well as to treat headaches -- may raise their
risk of getting deadly pancreatic cancer, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The
surprising finding worried doctors, who say women will now have to talk
seriously with their physicians about the risk of taking a daily aspirin.
Pancreatic cancer affects only 31,000 Americans a year, but it kills virtually
all its victims within three years. The study of 88,000 nurses found that those
who took two or more aspirins a week for 20 years or more had a 58 percent
higher risk of pancreatic cancer. <snip>

Now you have a choice, heart attack or cancer. Go here for complete article.
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=031027&cat=news&st=newshealthcanceraspirindc

Not necessarily, this was only an epidemiological study - although quite a
large one - so only a statistical association, not a causal relation, can be
concluded. And for some other cancers, colon cancer for example, results
have been the other way round.

Another large (although not as large as this new one) epidemiological study
last year found that aspirin use is associated with a _reduced_ risk of
pancreatic cancer:

Anderson KE, Johnson TW, Lazovich D, Folsom AR.
Association between nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and the
incidence of pancreatic cancer.
J Natl Cancer Inst. 2002 Aug 7;94(15):1168-71.
PMID: 12165642 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12165642&dopt=Abstract>

"Laboratory studies indicate that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs) may inhibit pancreatic cancer, but epidemiologic data
to support this finding are limited. We conducted a prospective
study from 1992 through 1999 among 28 283 postmenopausal women who
lived in Iowa to examine the association between the self-reported
use of aspirin and other NSAIDs and the incidence of pancreatic
cancer. Eighty incident cases of pancreatic cancer were identified
during 7 years of follow-up. The multivariate-adjusted relative risk
of pancreatic cancer associated with any current use of aspirin
versus no use was 0.57 (95% confidence interval = 0.36 to 0.90).
There was a trend of decreasing risk of pancreatic cancer incidence
with increasing frequency of aspirin use per week (P(trend) =.005).
Nonaspirin NSAID use was not associated with incident pancreatic
cancer. These data indicate that aspirin might be chemopreventive
for pancreatic cancer."

Go figure.

--
Matti Narkia

Matti Narkia said:

Another large (although not as large as this new one) epidemiological study
last year found that aspirin use is associated with a _reduced_ risk of
pancreatic cancer:

Another study found that any association with cancer in a study is
associated with an _increased_ incidence of funding.

--
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