Aspirin averts colorectal cancer : education study

Long-term use of alternate-day, low-dose aspirin may reduce the risk for colorectal cancer in healthy women, according to the findings of a study on the possible benefits of aspirin in cutting cancer risk. Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the findings come from a report from the Women's Health Study (WHS) and confi rm earlier observations about the benefits of aspirin to reduce colon cancer risk and oÂ? er important new insights according to an accompanying editorial written by Prof Peter Rothwell from Oxford University. Prof Rothwell and his colleagues were involved in previous trials that found that long-term daily aspirin reduces the risk of colorectal (bowel) cancer and other common cancers. The report is an observational follow-up of an earlier randomised trial of the use of aspirin (81-325mg daily) for the secondary prevention of colorectal adenomas that found a 15-30% reduction in recurrent adenomas. However, follow-up was too short to determine any effect on risk for colorectal cancer and 10-year follow-up of the two largest randomised trials of aspirin in primary prevention of vascular events (the WHS and the Physicians' Health Study) showed no such effects. Research in 2011has indicated aspirin's potential benefits for preventing colorectal cancer in people who are genetically predisposed to the condition.