The wonders of aspirin

Aspirin helps arthritis and heart disease

Taking aspirin could reduce the risk of lung cancer, researchers suggest.

The biggest risk factor for the cancer is smoking - and experts predict lung cancer deaths in the UK will fall significantly over the next five years as more people quit.

But US research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, found women who regularly took aspirin had less than half the risk of developing a common form of lung cancer.

This morning, Breakfast spoke to a leading cancer charity. A file of her interview will be available shortly

Their risk of developing any form of the cancer was reduced by a third if they took the drug.

People shouldn't fool themselves into thinking that taking aspirin somehow counteracts the dangers of smoking

Professor Gordon McVie, Cancer Research UK

Aspirin is already known to benefit people with arthritis and heart disease.

Experts say these latest findings raise hopes aspirin could also help protect people against a number of common cancers, although more research is needed into the long-term effects of taking the drug

Smoking

Researchers compared 81 New York women who went on to develop lung cancer with 808 who had not, and looked at whether they used aspirin.

A history of smoking is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer.

But, once that had been taken into account, it was found those who had taken aspirin regularly were "substantially" less likely to develop the disease.

Taking aspirin three or more times a week for at least six months reduced women's risk of developing any kind of lung cancer by a third, compared to women who had not taken the painkiller.

Regular aspirin users were less than half as likely to develop non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for about three quarters of cases, as non-aspirin users.

Other research is examining if aspirin can help reduce the risk of bowel cancer.

There is already some evidence it could protect against oesophageal cancer.

Although scientists are not certain why aspirin appears to have this protective effect, they speculate it could be because the drug has anti-inflammatory properties.

There is increasing evidence that molecules involved in the body's inflammatory response may also contribute to the development of the disease.

'Remarkable'

Dr Arslan Akhmedkhanov, of New York University School of Medicine, who led the study, said: "Not smoking is by far the best way to avoid lung cancer, but our study suggests that regular aspirin use could also confer some degree of protection against the disease."

He said further research was needed to confirm the study's findings.

Professor Gordon McVie, director general of Cancer Research UK, which owns the British Journal of Cancer, said: "Aspirin is a remarkable drug with a wide range of health benefits, and this is the latest evidence to suggest that it could become a useful weapon against cancer.

"But as much as these results are encouraging, people shouldn't fool themselves into thinking that taking aspirin somehow counteracts the dangers of smoking.

"Everything else pales into insignificance compared with the lethal effects of tobacco."

'Getting the message across'

A second study, published in the British Journal of Cancer, predicts UK death rates from lung cancer in under 75s will fall by 20% in men and 8% in women over the next five years.

Deaths in under 55s are set to fall more sharply - by 26% in men and 15% in women - because of drops in the numbers smoking.

But the analysis of 20 countries, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, found other European countries are set to fare less well, as both smoking and lung cancer rates remain high.

Dr Paul Brennan, who led the research, said: "Health campaigns in the UK have been extremely successful at persuading people, particularly men, to kick the habit, and as a result deaths from lung cancer are starting to come down.

"But sadly, across Europe the anti-smoking message doesn't seem to be getting across.

Professor McVie said although there was good news about UK smoking habits, people should not be complacent.

"Young women in particular are seemingly immune to anti-smoking campaigns and we need to find new ways of getting the message across. "