In a recent study, researchers found that daily aspirin therapy may help reduce the risk in hepatitis B virus‐related liver cancer.
The research was done by a team from Taiwan.
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver. It can be contracted through contact with an infected person’s blood or other bodily fluid.
It is estimated that 240 million people worldwide have chronic Hepatitis B and that the highest prevalence of the virus is in Africa and Asia.
Death from Hepatitis B is often due to scaring on healthy liver tissue or liver cancer.
Although current antiviral medicines such as nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy could reduce liver cancer risk, these therapies cannot eliminate the risk.
Previous research has shown that daily aspirin therapy may prevent the development of cancer.
This therapy is often prescribed to prevent heart disease and stroke.
Currently, there is no clear evidence for the effectiveness of aspirin therapy in preventing HBV‐related liver cancer.
In the study, the team aimed to determine if aspirin therapy could reduce liver cancer risk.
They used medical records from the National Health Insurance Research Database between 1998 and 2012.
They examined 204,507 patients with chronic hepatitis B.
They found that the incidence of liver cancer in patients treated with aspirin therapy was much lower than that in the untreated group in five years.
They also found that older age, male gender, cirrhosis, and diabetes were linked to increased cancer risk, but nucleos(t)ide analogue or statin use was linked to a decreased risk.
The team suggests that the finding shows that daily aspirin may help reduce liver cancer risk and it can benefit people who cannot use antiviral therapy.
One study researcher is Teng‐Yu Lee.
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