Low-dose aspirin may reduce breast cancer risk for diabetic women

June 8 (UPI) -- Researchers in Taiwan found women with type 2 diabetes who take a low-dose aspirin may reduce the risk of breast cancer.

"Women with type 2 diabetes have an increased risk of breast cancer, and these results suggest that the same low-dose aspirin that many of these women take to prevent cardiovascular disease may also help reduce their risk of breast cancer," Dr. Susan G. Kornstein, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, executive director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, said in a press release.

The study of nearly 149,000 women with type 2 diabetes over a 14-year period showed an 18 percent reduced breast cancer risk for women who took low-dose aspirin compared to women who did not take low-dose aspirin.

The average age of the women was 63 and 27,378 of the women were taking low-dose aspirin.

Researchers found a cumulative dose of aspirin exceeding 88,900 mg reduced the risk of breast cancer by 47 percent, but low to medium doses of between 8,600 to 88,900 mg cumulative doses of aspirin did not reduce the risk of breast cancer.

The study is published in the Journal of Women's Health.