LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The study linked regularly taking aspirin to a risk reduction of 50 percent or more -- but did no prove that aspirin directly protects against lung cancer. In fact, there may be other explanations for the connection.

The study reiterates the findings of previous ones linking regular aspirin use to lower risks of certain cancers, including colon, prostate and esophageal cancers. Experts say it's still too early to recommend widespread aspirin use for cutting cancer risk.

Experts wish to remind others that low-dose aspirin carries risks, like stomach irritation and ulcers.

"The question about whether aspirin use protects against lung cancer is still open to considerable debate at this point, and the published evidence to date is not conclusive," study leader Dr. Wei-Yen Lim said in an email.

Avoiding tobacco smoke remains the best way to protect yourself, Lim, of the National University of Singapore said.

Published in the journal Lung Cancer, the study included 398 Chinese women diagnosed with lung cancer and 814 cancer-free women.

Lim's team found that women who had used aspirin regularly, or at least twice a week for one month or longer were far less likely to have lung cancer.

Among women who'd never smoked, the odds were 50 percent lower for aspirin users versus non-users. Among smokers, aspirin use was tied to a 62 percent lower risk of lung cancer.

There could still be other differences that would help explain why aspirin users had a lower lung cancer risk, according to Lim.

Lim reiterated that the study is not designed to show whether taking aspirin cuts cancer risk, as that takes a clinical trial, where people are randomly assigned to take aspirin or not.

And the findings do not give an idea of how much risk-reduction there might be.

There was a fairly large relative difference in cancer risk between aspirin users and non-users in the study. But the absolute reduction in any one person's risk, if there is one, might be small.

Other studies have linked regular aspirin use to lower risks of several types of cancer. Most recently, an analysis of past clinical trials found that people given daily low-dose aspirin were less likely to develop cancer after three years of use.

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