Aspirin And Skin Cancer: New Study Reveals The Over-The-Counter Medication's Anti-Cancer Properties

Women who take aspirin are less likely to develop skin cancer, according to a new study.

The risk of contracting deadly melanoma is significantly lowered if a woman takes a regular dose of aspirin, says a new study published online today in Cancer.

The study also suggested that the longer the aspirin is taken, the more the risk decreases.

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One of the scientists who conducted the study, Jean Tang, discussed the findings in an interview on Monday. "We think our results are very exciting and that they add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that aspirin may have some real anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties."

Tang is an assistant professor of dermatology at Stanford University and she and her colleagues looked at data from nearly 60,000 women who took part in the study as part of the Women's Health Initiative.

The participating women were aged 50-79 and all Caucasian as they are the group melanoma skin cancer is most likely to affect.

The women were followed for 12 years on average.

When the study began, the women were asked to list the medications they were taking as well as their food intake and physical activities.

When the study concluded, the researchers noted that the women who used aspirin had a 21 percent lower risk of skin cancer on average than those who did not use it regularly

They further discovered that the longer a woman used the aspirin, the lower her rate of the potentially fatal skin cancer. Those who used aspirin for one to four years had an 11 percent reduction in risk, compared to 30 percent for those who took aspirin for five or more years.

While more research still needs to be done, the link between aspirin and skin cancer does seem very real.

Dr. Jenny Kim, an associate professor of dermatology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA added, "I think it is too early to tell women to change their behavior, unless they would be taking it for the cardiovascular benefit also. Before we can recommend that patients start taking aspirin to prevent melanoma we need to have some randomized controlled trials."

So for those women out there already taking a regimented dose of aspirin, you may see an added benefit - a much smaller chance of getting skin cancer!