Many media outlets have reported a while ago that studies have shown that long-term use of the antipyretic analgesic paracetamol (acetaminophen) can increase the risk of developing blood cancers. Paracetamol, the main ingredient in the familiar cold and flu medicine, antipyretics and painkillers. This makes people worry that the increased risk of cancer does not mean that the drug is dangerous, and that fever-reducing drugs should not be used in the future? To answer this question, two things need to be clarified: first, whether the risk of paracetamol causing blood cancer really exists; second, if it does, how big is this risk.
Previously, scientists have conducted several studies on the association of paracetamol and other antipyretic analgesics with hematologic cancers. Some studies have shown signs of an increase in hematologic cancers such as leukemia and Hodgkin’s lymphoma with long-term paracetamol use, while others have concluded that the effect is negligible. With divergent conclusions and some limitations of the studies themselves, the matter has been inconclusive in academic circles.
This news report is of a large retrospective study just published, which included more than 60,000 subjects, a large enough sample size and widely accepted study methodology to make the results more credible. The results of the study showed a significant increase in the overall incidence of blood cancers among those who used paracetamol for more than 4 days a week and for more than 4 years, with a risk increase of up to nearly twofold compared to those who did not use the drug. This study adds to the strong evidence that paracetamol increases the risk of blood cancers, and it is highly likely that this risk exists. However, more in-depth studies are needed to finalize the conclusion.
So, how big is the risk? First of all, we should note that in the study’s conclusion, only long-term frequent use of paracetamol (>4 days per week and >4 years of use) significantly increased the risk of blood cancer, while the risk did not increase if used only a few times temporarily. Moreover, although long-term heavy use of paracetamol tripled the risk of blood cancers, the absolute frequency of blood cancers did not increase much. The incidence of various cancers of the blood system in the general population is mostly in the order of a few parts per 100,000, and doubling the incidence on this basis would result in a rate of at most a few parts per 100,000, which is far from “cancer if you take the drug”.
In other words, the risk of paracetamol causing blood cancer does exist, but it is not as terrible as people think. Paracetamol only causes an increase in the chance of blood cancer when used in large quantities for a long time, and the increase is not significant. As long as long-term use is avoided, this drug that has been with us for many years is still safe.
In fact, even without considering the problem of blood cancer, long-term use of antipyretic analgesics can bring about many health problems, such as peptic ulcers, kidney disease, liver damage and so on. Therefore, it is important not to be overly dependent on such drugs. If the fever or pain does not improve after using the drugs, or if the pain recurs, you should go to the hospital for treatment of the cause in time.