Aspirin boosts survival in oral squamous cell carcinoma

Aspirin use seems to improve survival rates among patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), revealing its potential as an adjuvant therapy, a recent study has found.

The researchers conducted a cohort analysis of 1,525 patients, of whom 305 were on aspirin for ≥180 days while the remaining 1,220 were not. After 10 years of follow-up, significantly more patients in the former subgroup remained alive (79.67 percent vs 66.89 percent; p<0.0001). Moreover, deaths attributed to OSCC were significantly more common among nonusers (19.26 percent vs 9.51 percent; p<0.001).

Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis confirmed that the use of aspirin was a significant protective factor against death, reducing such risk by more than 50 percent relative to nonusers (hazard ratio, 0.44, 95 percent confidence interval, 0.30–0.64; p<0.001). This analysis had been adjusted for sociodemographic factors, cancer stage, and treatment.

Other significant correlates of survival included pathological T and N staging and interventions received.

Kaplan-Meier survival curves further confirmed that ≥180 days of aspirin use correlated with significant improvements in overall and disease-specific survival rates over a 10-year follow-up period. Moreover, these survival benefits could be observed across various stages of cancer, including pathological stages III and IV (p<0.0001); stages T1, T2, T3 (p=0.0051), and T4 (p=0.0124); and stages N1, N2, and N3 (p=0.0001).

“Given the poor prognosis of this disease, a treatment like aspirin that could not only improve the OSCC survival rate but is also inexpensive would be highly appreciated,” the researchers said.