Aspirin: More Benefits Than We Thought?

Aspirin was formed in 1899 when acetylsalicylic acid was first created. Since then aspirin has become very a well know drug. It can be used for pain relief, anti-inflammation, as an antipyretic, and as a blood thinner. Now studies are showing that aspirin is also reducing people’s risk of getting certain cancers. A study was done on people who had Lynch syndrome, a condition that increases your risk of colorectal and endometrial cancers. Participants in the study were taking a high dosage of aspirin and showed a 63% relative risk reduction for developing colorectal cancers. In June of 2016, a JAMA Oncology study from Harvard showed that aspirin use of 6 years or longer reduced the risk of colorectal cancer by 19% and gastrointestinal cancer by 15%. The USPSTF currently states that the people who get the most benefit with the lowest added risk from aspirin are people ages 50 to 59 who have an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease (National Cancer Institute, n.d.).

While aspirin does have some great benefits it also comes with some potentially harmful side effects. Like many other analgesics, there is a potential risk for ulcers, gastrointestinal bleeds, and the most concerning is an overall increased risk of bleeding. Aspirin inhibits the COX enzyme. This blocks prostaglandins, prostacyclins, and thromboxanes that are normally produced under certain stimuli such as pain. When thromboxanes specifically are inhibited it causes platelet aggregation to stop (Undas, Brummel-Ziedins, & Mann, 2007). This is a very dangerous side effect for some people because if you are unable to clot bleeding to death becomes a serious concern. I think this opens up the door for a lot more research and controversy around aspirin. It is a drug capable of providing some great benefits, but it also has a decent amount of risk carried along with that. It would be interesting to find out exactly what mechanistically in aspirin is reducing the risk of cancer and if that could be isolated. Until then how do weight the risks and benefits of aspirin since it is impossible to know how many heart attacks and strokes it really prevents? Who gets to decide whether a drug with the potential to decrease the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and gastrointestinal cancers should be taken and who qualifies?

Aspirin to Reduce Cancer Risk. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/research/aspirin-cancer-risk.

Connelly, D. (2014, September 26). A history of aspirin. Retrieved from https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/infographics/a-history-of-aspirin/20066661.article.

Is Taking Aspirin Good for Your Heart? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/is-taking-aspirin-good-for-your-heart.

Undas, A., Brummel-Ziedins, K. E., & Mann, K. G. (2007, March 15). Antithrombotic properties of aspirin and resistance to aspirin: beyond strictly antiplatelet actions. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1852201/.