Common Pain Killer
Could Reduce Ovarian Cancer Risk - Tylenol - Acetaminophen - Paracetamol
- Cuts Danger By Thirty Percent
July 7th 2006
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Tylenol |
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Greek researchers say that regular use of Tylenol (acetaminophen or
paracetamol) could reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by almost a third.
The meta-analysis included more than 746,000 women over a six-year
period. They found that 4,405 of the women in the eight major studies –
from the USA, UK and Denmark – had ovarian cancer.
They looked at all of the studies that included paracetamol and ovarian
cancer from 1966 to 2004. Dr Stefanos Bonovas said “Meta-analysis
involves doing a large amount of research into what has been published,
summarising the results and combining them using statistical methods.
Analyzing a wide range studies can often throw new light on a problem
and raise new research questions.” Bonovas is the lead researcher from
the Greek Ministry of Health.
Bonovas added “"In this case our analysis of eight major studies –
covering nearly three-quarters of a million women - revealed a strong
correlation between paracetamol use and a reduced risk of ovarian
cancer."
The researchers’ defined “regular use” as the highest frequency of drug
use reported in the individual studies. This varied from study to
study, but was defined as more than 30 tablets in the month before the
study started. Seven of the studies looked at paracetamol use and the
incidence of ovarian cancer and the largest study looked at the link
between paracetamol use and ovarian cancer deaths.
Since Tylenol is readily available and is widely available, this could
be an important finding. Bonovas says “"Ovarian cancer remains the most
fatal gynaecological malignancy. Its high mortality rate – mainly due to
a combination of ineffective screening and the limited success of
therapies for advanced disease - makes ovarian cancer a major health
concern. Strategies that focus on prevention may therefore provide the
most rational approach for reducing deaths from this form of cancer.”
Of course the researchers say they need more research to determine
whether women and high risk can benefit from this therapy. They stress
that they are not suggesting that women adopt this possible method of
risk prevention at this stage. "But we do feel that our study highlights
the need for further research into this highly important link between a
simple over-the-counter medicine and a very aggressive form of cancer"
says Dr Bonovas.
The study is published in the July
issue of British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Dan Wilson
Best Syndication
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