Research on aspirin's potential impact on cancer prevention received
significant coverage online and on network news broadcasts, where it
received more than six minutes of coverage. However, the story was not
widely covered by print media. ABC World News (3/20, story 7,
1:40, Sawyer) reported, "Now the big headline today about health and
something we all have in our medicine cabinets, an encouraging
possibility that aspirin could be a weapon in the fight against cancer."
In the lead story on NBC Nightly News (3/20, lead story, 3:10,
Williams) reports that "new evidence" suggest that aspirin may "prevent
and treat several different kinds of cancers."
During a second ABC World News (3/20, story 8, 1:10, Sawyer)
segment on the study, "Dr. Karen Latimer who consults with ABC News on
health issues," said, however that the research indicates that for
"people who take aspirin every other day, there's no benefit."
The CBS Evening News (3/20, story 9, 0:20, Pelley) pointed out that "aspirin is" already "sometimes used to prevent heart attacks."
On its website, ABC News
(3/21, Borges, Turner) reports, "In three studies published in the
Lancet and the Lancet Oncology on Tuesday, British researchers analyzed
data from more than 50 studies and found that those who took daily
aspirin for at least three years were less likely to develop cancer --
and if they did, it tended to be less advanced."
Bloomberg News
(3/21, Bennett) reports that individuals "who took a daily dose of
aspirin had a 24 percent lower rate of developing cancer after three
years and were 37 percent less likely to die from the disease after five
years than those who didn't, according to a study in The Lancet medical
journal." This "rate was similar for men and women." Two additional
"studies published in The Lancet and The Lancet Oncology...showed
that aspirin reduced the risk of any cancer spreading to other organs by
36 percent and certain types of tumors by 46 percent."
The New York Times
(3/21, A10, Rabin, Subscription Publication) reports, "The findings
add to a body of evidence suggesting that cheap and widely available
aspirin may be a powerful if overlooked weapon in the battle against
cancer." However, "the research also poses difficult questions for
doctors and public health officials, as regular doses of aspirin can
cause gastrointestinal bleeding and other side effects." Also covering
the story were Reuters (3/21, Kelland), HealthDay (3/21, Reinberg), MedPage Today (3/21, Bankhead),
and Medscape (3/21, Nelson).
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