Aspirin and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma development in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis

Aspirin therapy has shown protective effects against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in preclinical studies. However, it is unclear whether aspirin therapy lowers the risk of HCC in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis. A retrospective analysis of data from 949 consecutive patients with alcoholic cirrhosis who abstained from alcoholic drinking was performed. The primary and secondary outcomes were development of HCC and gastrointestinal bleeding events, respectively. Risk was compared between patients with aspirin treatment and patients who were not treated (non-aspirin group) using a time-varying Cox proportional hazards model for total population and propensity score-matching analysis. The aspirin group included 224 patients and the non-aspirin group had 725 patients. During the study period of median duration of 3.1 years, 133 patients (13.6%) developed HCC. In time-varying Cox proportional analyses, the aspirin group showed a significantly lower risk of HCC (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 0.13; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.08–0.21; P < .001). In propensity score-matched pairs, aspirin therapy significantly reduced the risk of HCC (aHR: 0.14; 95% CI: 0.09–0.22; P < .001). In bleeding risk, treatment with aspirin alone was not significantly associated with a higher bleeding risk (aHR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.45–1.44; P = .46). Aspirin therapy was associated with the lower risk of HCC in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis.