Women who take an aspirin a day — which millions do to prevent heart attack and stroke and to treat headaches — may raise their risk of getting pancreatic cancer, US researchers said on Monday. The study of 88,000 nurses found that those who took two or more aspirins a week for 20 years or more had a 58 per cent higher risk of pancreatic cancer. Dr Eva Schernhammer of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who led the study, said at a news conference: ‘‘Initially we expected that aspirin would protect against pancreatic cancer. now it appears that we need to examine the relationship more thoroughly.’’ Schernhammer and colleagues studied 88,378 women taking part in a large and wide-ranging study of nurses and their health. Over 18 years, 161 of the nurses developed pancreatic cancer. (Reuters)
