MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Dose aspirin used by hypertensive patients reduce their risk of melanoma?
The question was addressed in an Australian study led by Monash University. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University, both in Bethesda, MD, participated in the study.
Background information in the article noted that the association between hypertension and melanoma is unclear, while citing previous analyses of data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) study which showed a reduced number of invasive melanoma events for hypertension patients exposed to aspirin.
Analysis for the recent article in Cancer Epidemiology used data from the ASPREE study, including the combination of the intervention period with a median follow-up of 4.7 years and the observational period with an additional two years follow-up.1
The researchers randomized 19,114 participants (median age of 74) to daily 100 mg aspirin or placebo. At baseline, hypertension and past melanoma history were documented in 14,195 and 685 participants, respectively.
After adjusting for confounders, the authors reported that hypertension was significantly associated with past melanoma history (OR=1.34, 95%CI: 1.11-1.62). They noted, that, “in a prospective analysis, baseline hypertension was not associated with melanoma risk. However, aspirin was associated with a reduced risk of incident melanoma amongst individuals with uncontrolled hypertension (blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg; HR=0.63, 95%CI 0.44-0.89), but not in those with controlled hypertension (HR=1.04, 95%CI 0.74-1.46).”
The researchers said their results support a reduced melanoma incidence amongst uncontrolled hypertension patients using aspirin, but called for more studies to confirm their findings.
- Yan MK, Orchard SG, Adler NR, Wolfe R, McLean C, Rodríguez LM, Woods RL, Gibbs P, Chan AT, Haydon A, Mar VJ. Association between hypertension and cutaneous melanoma, and the effect of aspirin: extended follow-up of a large randomised controlled trial. Cancer Epidemiol. 2022 Aug;79:102173. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2022.102173. Epub 2022 May 11. PMID: 35567859.