Aug 14, 2014 06:36 PM EDT By J Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

Aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may lower breast cancer recurrence rate in overweight and obese women.

Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin found that NSAID use reduces the recurrence rate of the most common form of breast cancer, ERα positive breast cancer, by 50 percent and extends patients' disease-free period by more than two years. ER positive breast cancers, which grow in response to exposure to the hormone estrogen, account for about 75 percent of diagnoses, HealthDay reported.

"Overweight or obese women diagnosed with breast cancer are facing a worse prognosis than normal-weight women," cancer researcher Linda deGraffenried in a statement. "We believe that obese women are facing a different disease. There are changes at the molecular level. We seek to modulate the disease promoting effects of obesity."

For the study, researchers followed 440 breast cancer survivors who were postmenopausal and overweight or obese, and were diagnosed between 1987 and 2011. Of the cohort, 159 used painkillers and 281 did not.

Researchers found that if the cancer did recur, it took longer in those who took painkillers: 6.5 years compared to about 4.2 years for the nonusers.

There was an indication of protection from aspirin and other NSAIDs even after controlling for statins and omega-3 fatty acid use, which also have anti-inflammatory effects.

"These results suggest that NSAIDs may improve response to hormone therapy, thereby allowing more women to remain on hormone therapy rather than needing to change to chemotherapy and deal with the associated side effects and complications," deGraffenried said. "However, these results are preliminary and patients should never undertake any treatment without consulting with their physician."

The findings were recently published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

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