Association of prophylactic low-dose aspirin use with all-cause and cause-specific mortality in cancer patients

• Published in: Scientific reports 2024-10, Vol.14 (1), p.25918-8, Article 25918
• Main Authors: Hu, Hui, Chen, Wen-jun, Xiong, Zi-yi, Luo, Lin-fei, Sun, Chuang, Xie, Jun-ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/67; 692/4028; Adult; Aged; Aspirin; Aspirin - administration & dosage; Aspirin - therapeutic use; Cancer; Carcinoma; Cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular Diseases - mortality; Cardiovascular Diseases - prevention & control; Cause of Death; Cohort Studies; Death; Drug dosages; Female; Health risks; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Long-term effects; Male; Middle Aged; Mortality; multidisciplinary; Neoplasms - mortality; NHANES; Nutrition Surveys; Proportional Hazards Models; Regression analysis; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Statistical analysis; United States - epidemiology
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-75612-w

The long-term use of aspirin for preventing cardiovascular disease has been recommended for decades. However, there is currently uncertainty regarding the long-term effects of aspirin use on the risk of all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in cancer patients. The aim of this work was to analyze the connection between the prophylactic use of low-dose aspirin and the risk of all-cause death, cardiovascular death, and carcinoma death in carcinoma patients in the United States. A cohort study was conducted using National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data (2011–2012, 2013–2014, 2015–2016, and 2017–2018) and associated mortality data. The 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and hazard ratios (HRs) between non-aspirin use and prophylactic low-dose aspirin use and the risk of death were measured via Cox proportional hazard regression models. A total of 1819 participants were included in the present research, of whom 945 were nonaspirin users and 874 were prophylactic aspirin users. Compared with non-aspirin users, prophylactic low-dose aspirin users had a decreased risk of all-cause death (HR = 0.647, 95% CI = 0.489–0.857). There was no statistically significant difference in the risk of cardiovascular death (HR = 0.623, 95% CI = 0.362–1.074) or cancer death (HR = 0.709, 95% CI = 0.410–1.226). Prophylactic use of low-dose aspirin may lower all-cause mortality in individuals with cancer but does not have a substantial effect on cardiovascular risk or cancer-specific mortality in this patient population.