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Besides what it is prescribed to address for the patients, the regular use of aspirin as researchers found out has a surprising effect. The risk of having pancreatic cancer is reduced in patients who take aspirin regularly.

A study conducted in Shanghai, China found out that the risk of having pancreatic cancer is reduced to as much as 50 percent due to regular use of aspirin. However, the researchers stress that the use of aspirin should be prescribed by a doctor as inappropriate use of aspirin can lead to complications.

Researchers collected data from 37 hospitals in Shanghai, China from 2006 to 2011. A total of 761 correspondents with pancreatic cancer and 794 randomly selected study controls were interviewed and recruited for the study.

The participants were then asked when they started taking aspirin, how frequently they use aspirin, why they use aspirin when they stopped using aspirin, among others. According to the data, almost all of the correspondents take aspirin daily.

From the data collected and analyzed, the researchers found out that among the correspondents with pancreatic cancer, 11 percent was reported to take aspirin regularly while 18 percent for the controls. After adjusting for a number of factors like smoking history, body mass index, diabetes history, the result of the study shows that regular use of aspirin has decreased the risk of pancreatic cancer by 46%. This is an 8% decrease for every year of regular aspirin use.

Published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, the study also found out through their review of literature, that at least eighteen previous studies have shown the beneficial relationship of regular aspirin use to reducing the risk of pancreatic cancer. The aim of the study is to find ways to prevent the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is said to be one of the deadliest types of cancer where a fewer than 8% of the patients survive after diagnosis.