Low-dose aspirin mitigates liver cancer risk, says study

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Washington, March 14: Among adults at high risk of liver cancer, those who took low-dose aspirin were less likely to develop the disease or to die from liver-related causes.

The findings come from an analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine and conducted by a team led by investigators at the Karolinska Institutet, in Sweden, and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

“Rates of liver cancer and of mortality from liver disease are rising at an alarming pace in U.S. and European countries. Despite this, there remain no established treatments to prevent the development of liver cancer, or to reduce the risk of liverrelated death,” said lead author Tracey Simon, MD, MPH, the investigator in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at MGH.

For the analysis, investigators examined information from Swedish registries

Importantly, the study showed that the longer a person took low-dose aspirin, the greater the benefit on 50,275 adults who had chronic viral hepatitis, a type of liver infection that is caused by the hepatitis B or C virus and is most common risk factor for liver cancer.

Over a median follow-up of nearly 8 years, 4.0% of patients who took lowdose aspirin (less than 163mg/day) and 8.3% of nonusers of aspirin developed liver cancer. Aspirin users had a 31% lower relative risk of developing liver cancer.

Importantly, the study showed that the longer a person took low-dose aspirin, the greater the benefit. Compared with short-term use (3 months to 1 year), the risk of liver cancer was 10% lower for 1-3 years of use, 34% lower for 3-5 years of use, and 43% lower for 5 or more years of use.

Also, liver-related deaths occurred in 11.0% of aspirin users compared with 17.9% of nonusers over 10 years, for a 27% lower risk.

The benefits were seen regardless of sex, the severity of hepatitis, or type of hepatitis virus (B or C). The risk of internal bleeding — a concern when taking aspirin longterm — was not significantly elevated among aspirin users.

“This is the first largest nationwide study to demonstrate that the aspirin is associated with a reduced risk of liver cancer,” said senior author Jonas F. Ludvigsson, of the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet.

— ANI