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A study is conducted to examine the influence of aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in prevention of colorectal cancer. Results reveal that regular, long-term aspirin use reduces risk of colorectal cancer and non-aspirin NSAIDs appear to have a similar effect.

Taking aspirin or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) during pregnancy may predispose infants to developing persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). PPHN causes respiratory failure in otherwise normal full-term infants. NSAIDs and aspirin inhibit prostaglandin production, which animal studies have revealed can cause lung circulation complications after birth. Researchers interviewed mothers of 103 infants with PPHN who were of normal weight at birth and free of congenital anomalies and compared their responses with mothers of 298 matched healthy infants. Mothers of infants with PPHN were five times more likely to have taken aspirin and six times more likely to have taken NSAIDs. Mothers who smoked were twice as likely to have infants with PPHN; however, the effects of smoking could not be distinguished statistically from the effects of low maternal education and illicit drug use. Smoking could predispose infants to PPHN because it causes chronic oxygen lack, another factor animal studies have shown to cause lung circulation complications., Objective. Prenatal causation of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is suggested by a specific pattern of pulmonary vascular remodeling observed immediately after birth in some infants with fatal PPHN. The goal of this study was to determine whether PPHN is associated with fetal exposure to: (1) tobacco and marijuana smoking (ie, contributors to fetal hypoxemia), (2) consumption of aspirin and other nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (ie, inhibitors of prostaglandin synthesis), and (3) cocaine use (ie, a contributor to vasospasm). Design. Case-control interview study. Setting. Two Harvard-affiliated newborn intensive care units. Participants. Mothers of case infants who had PPHN or who met criteria for the referent group. Interventions. During July 1985 through April 1989, we interviewed mothers of 103 infants with PPHN and 298 control infants. Because of potential selection bias that might result from recruiting only inborn control infants even though two-thirds of cases were outborn, separate analyses compared the 103 total and 35 inborn infants with PPHN with the 298 inborn control infants. Multivariate analyses were used to adjust for potential confounding factors, including maternal education and Medicaid health insurance (ie, two markers of socioeconomic status), other antenatal factors found to be associated with PPHN (ie, maternal urinary tract infection and diabetes mellitus), and the infant's sex. Main Outcome Measures. Self-reported use or consumption of tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, aspirin, and other nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs during pregnancy. Results. The adjusted odds ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) for maternal pregnancy exposures to the factors of principal interest among the total study population were: aspirin, 4.9 (1.6-15.3); and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, 6.2 (1.8-21.8); for the inborn group they were: aspirin, 9.6 (2.4-39.0); and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, 17.5 (4.3-71.6). Although the association between tobacco smoking during pregnancy and PPHN was elevated in univariate analyses, with odds ratios (and 95% confidence intervals) of 2.0 (1.2-3.4) and 1.3 (0.6-3.3) for total and inborn populations, respective the relationship was not significant after adjustment for all other factors in the final logistic regression model. Acknowledged illicit drug use was too infrequent (3.2%) to evaluate. Conclusion. Maternal consumption of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs and aspirin during pregnancy or the reasons these drugs were ingested seem to contribute to an increased risk of PPHN. Pediatrics 1996;97:658 - 663; newborn infant, diseases; hypertension, pulmonary, persistent fetal circulation, aspirin; nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs; smoking; drug abuse; socioeconomic status; diabetes mellitus. ABBREVIATIONS. PPHN, persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn; NSAID, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug; ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; OR, odds ratio; UTI, urinary tract infection; SES, socioeconomic status., Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is an important cause of profound respiratory failure in newborns, occurring at a rate of 1 in 600 to 1 in 1500 live [...]

The non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs are prescribed for a large number of patients. The drugs of this group, often abbreviated NSAIDs, have analgesic properties, reduce fever, and inhibit the aggregation of platelets, a first step in blood clot formation. Aspirin and ibuprofen are two commonly used NSAIDS, but 14 different NSAIDs are available in the United States. The availability of these different but closely related drugs raises the question of whether they differ significantly in any way, and what factors should guide the choice of NSAIDs for an individual patient. The physical properties of the molecules of individual NSAIDs help determine the distribution of the drugs in the body. NSAIDs which are more highly soluble in fats will preferentially accumulate in the brain, while NSAIDs which are more acidic (and hence negatively charged at the body's pH) will accumulate in the inflamed synovial tissue of a joint with arthritis. There is no substantial evidence, however, to indicate that these differences in drug distribution are actually great enough to be important in the treatment of patients. All NSAIDs inhibit the synthesis of molecules called prostaglandins, and the NSAIDs which are more potent in this inhibition tend to have the greatest antiinflammatory effects, as well. However, the doses of NSAIDs required to achieve clinical benefits are much higher than those needed to inhibit prostaglandin synthesis, suggesting that other mechanisms may be at work as well. Furthermore, salicylate is just as effective as aspirin in controlling the inflammation seen in rheumatoid arthritis, although aspirin is a far more effective prostaglandin inhibitor. The NSAIDs have many effects within the body, and further research will be necessary to determine which of these effects contribute most strongly to the drugs' desired actions. There are many reports of individual patients who respond to one NSAID but not to another. These reports need to be confirmed in a scientific fashion, as do suggestions that some NSAIDs are superior for particular purposes. Although there are many reasons to suspect that individual NSAIDs may differ in their effectiveness as well as their side effects, it is not yet clear that these differences are great enough to be of clinical importance. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Doctors should avoid prescribing acetaminophen or aspirin to patients with kidney disease. Also, a study published in 2001 showed that ibuprofen can inhibit the anticoagulant effect of aspirin.

A Mayo Clinic team found that taking aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may reduce the risk of developing an enlarged prostate by as much as 50 percent. NSAIDs [...]