Men who consume aspirin everyday may face an increased likelihood of developing melanoma, according to a study published in Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Researchers examined medical record data of 195,140 patients. The adult patients had no prior history of melanoma. The aspirin-exposed group included 1,187 patients who had taken aspirin at a dose of 81mg or 325 mg once everyday between January 2005 and December 2006. The follow-up time was five years.
Of the 1,187 aspirin-exposed male and female patients, 2.19 percent had a subsequent diagnosis for melanoma compared 0.86 percent of patients who did not take aspirin once everyday.
The researcher separated the groups into men and women, and they found men exposed to aspirin had almost twice the risk of a melanoma diagnosis as compared to men who did not take aspirin everyday.
"Given the widespread use of aspirin and the potential clinical impact of the link to melanoma, patients and health care providers need to be aware of the possibility of increased risk for men," said Beatrice Nardone, MD, PhD, a senior study author and research assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.