Blog 1: Relationship Between Aspirin and Prostate Cancer, Denise Iheanachor, 8/29/12, 9:45 PM

A recent study in the world of health and disease is suggesting that the use of anticoagulants, or aspirin, is significantly lowering the risk of men dying of prostate cancer. The study was done by a project group known as CaPSURE, or Cancer for the Prostate Strategic Urologic Research Endeavor, and published Tuesday, August 28th in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The study according to the article was not as thorough, or “gold standard” as they called it, as it could have been but it provided enough evidence to intrigue the minds of several and possibly open up the doors to some new disease prevention methods. In this study, nearly 6000 men were observed using this CaPSURE database. Each individual in the study had prostate cancer and received treatment through surgery or through radiotherapy. It was then observed and noted that 2,175 of the 5,955 men observed were taking an anticoagulant, mostly aspirin. The percentages used were that 3% of men taking aspirin were less likely to die from prostate cancer, but shot up to 8% were likely to die if they were not.

Articles like this may misconstrue readers into believing that taking aspirin will in a sense cure their form of cancer. It is almost like a false sense of hope. For a lot of cancer victims, a point at which hopelessness takes over becomes very real and by this time, they are just looking for anything to cure their ailment. It may also pose wide spread panic for those not taking aspirin. They may begin to wonder if they are going to die due to what they read in the study. Cancer is such a touchy subject that an article such as this may anger individuals who either currently suffer from cancer, or even know someone who died from the disease. A study like this may remove the idea of treatment for individuals who believe they no longer need it because they have been taking aspirin. There is also room for a lot of holes and underlying factors that this article did not necessarily address. Some of the subjects were taking “some form of an anticoagulant, ‘mostly aspirin.’” It may be important to know what else was being taken besides aspirin. It may also be important to know if they were all taking the exact same form of aspirin. The study doesn’t even reference genetics and how that plays into acquiring cancer. We have to assume that these men all have roughly the same health status. Lastly, in third world countries, aspirin is obviously not as readily available as it is here. A study like this should have accessed more subjects on a global scale to gain widespread knowledge and data. It is not sufficient enough to only gather information from the U.S. and never address those in other countries. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/health/research/regular-aspirin-use-may-aid-prostate-cancer-recovery-study-finds.html?src=me&ref=health