what they said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

A daily aspirin may give women modest protection against the most common type of breast cancer, U.S. government researchers said Wednesday.

The finding reinforced earlier research indicating regular use of aspirin might reduce the risk of so-called estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, which makes up about three quarters of breast cancer cases...

The original article can be found at: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=7527c0c3-4a87-4ec4-b39b-a5c19c37bc8e&k=36834

how did it rate? (more information)

what we said (Hover the mouse cursor over underlined words for more info)

This article received a low score because it did not include strong evidence to support it claims. The study was clear in stating that it involved a large group of cancer-free women, however, the report did not include a statement about the women's baseline odds of getting breast cancer (regardless of whether they received the daily aspirin treatment or not).

The report states that daily aspirin treatment reduces the risk of breast cancer by 16%. But what are the chances that these women would get cancer regardless of treatment? We need a baseline value from which to interpret these results.

While the test group included women over the age of 50, the report does not say anything about how these findings may translate to cases of younger women. Furthermore, the article does not quantify the treatment harms or mention other treatment options and how they compare to the aspirin therapy.

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