An Aspirin a Day – Another Benefit?

Many people take a baby aspirin a day (81 mg), with or without their doctor’s approval. (I’ve been taking ½ a baby aspirin daily for the last 15 years, although recently the experts say that it’s not necessarily a good idea. Oh, well.)

Mayo Clinic physicians have done a study to see whether daily intake of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, including aspirin) lowers the risk of developing benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH). They followed almost 2500 men for 12 years, with check-up every two years, and found that those who took an NSAID daily reduced their risk of moderate or severe BPH by 27%. The protective effect was slightly greater in older men amongst the collective.

It seems logical to explain the benefit as being due to the anti-inflammatory effect of the drugs, as inflammatory changes are often seen in the microscopic exam of tissues taken by biopsy.

In another report in the same journal, there’s confirmation of earlier news that a daily aspirin or NSAID can lower the risk of prostate cancer, but it seems this protective action is only effective in a proportion of men – those with genes that apparently respond differently to inflammatory stimuli. This lends support to the role of inflammation as a troublemaker in the prostate – either for BPH or cancer. I’ll keep going with my aspirin, anyway.