Aspirin and other non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory painkillers may help protect against skin cancer, according to scientists at the School of Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital and the Cancer Prevention Institute in Fremont.

Researchers examined the drugs’ impact by evaluating 19 years of skin cancer records in northern Denmark and comparing the rates at which skin cancer materialized in subjects who took one or more drugs compared to those who didn’t.

Researchers subsequently found that the risk of developing squamous cell carcinoma or malignant melanoma — two forms of skin cancer — fell by 15 and 13 percent respectively among people who had used aspirin-like drugs. The lowered risk was more pronounced among those who had used the drugs for a longer period or more intensively.

Aspirin and other non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory painkillers may protect against skin cancer by inhibiting the function of two enzymes responsible for the promotion of inflammation and the formation of blood vessels. Without such outlets for expansion, tumors may be unable to grow, according to researchers.

— Marshall Watkins