Little Benefit to Aspirin or Vitamin E in Women

In the Women’s Health Study, aspirin was associated with a nonsignificant reduction in cardiovascular outcomes and an increase in bleeding (Journal Watch Mar 18 2005). Now, in a report from the same study, researchers have evaluated whether aspirin might prevent cancer — and whether vitamin E might prevent cancer or cardiovascular disease. A total of 39,876 women without known cancer or cardiovascular disease (age, ≥45) were randomized to receive aspirin (100 mg every other day), vitamin E (600 IU every other day), both, or neither.

During an average follow-up of 10 years, 2865 cases of cancer were confirmed (excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer). In intent-to-treat analyses, neither aspirin nor vitamin E had any significant effect on the incid…