New research revealed taking low-dose aspirin every day could reduce the risk of having cancer in the colon, breast, prostate, and ovaries. It could also lower the risk of having a heart attack and stroke.
In a new study published in the journal JAMA Oncology, it found out regular takers of low-dose aspirin are less likely to develop ovarian cancer. However, other users of high-dose painkillers or anti-inflammatory drugs like non-aspirin nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are more likely to have the said illness.
Aspirin also helps to reduce the number of platelets in our blood that could aid to slow cancer growth. "Platelets increase inflammation and help tumor cells spread to other parts of the body," one of the study's lead researchers Shelley Tworoger said, per the South China Morning Post. "Having high platelets has been associated with worse outcomes in ovarian cancer patients."
Ovarian cancer is said to be the most deadly gynecological cancer because it is more difficult to detect. The inflammation that occurs during women's ovulation said to play a major role in developing this illness. Hence, City of Hope cancer hospital in California's Professor Victoria Seewaldt believed that aspirin's "anti-inflammatory properties" help prevent the disease from developing.
But lead researcher Tworoger claimed that they are not yet advising women to take low-dose aspirin every day to lower their risk of having ovarian cancer. She said that they need to do more research about it, and ladies should talk about it with their doctors.
In another study conducted by the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition, via Bizwomen, it found out a lot of women with ovarian cancer have no idea about the disease. In an online survey with 1,531 women participants with the illness in 44 countries revealed that many females believed that their doctors also don't have the proper knowledge about the condition. Two-thirds of the partakers never heard of this tumor. They only knew its name but have no information about it.
About fewer than half of the contributors have their selves checked when they first experienced ovarian cancer's symptoms within the first month. One in 10 contributors, on the other hand, still waited six months before they sought treatments. Lastly, one in five women had genetic testing because they had a family history of the condition.
In general, it took 31 weeks of average time to develop ovarian cancer from its first symptoms to diagnosis. It is 36 weeks in the United States.
World Health Organization data cited that ovarian cancer is the "eighth leading cause of cancer in women." Almost 300,000 women are reportedly most likely to develop it this year.
