Study supports aspirin's protective role in colon cancer
Regular, long-term aspirin use is associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer, US researchers have shown. However, they warn against recommending this chemopreventive approach because the doses of aspirin required are linked to high levels of gastrointestinal bleeding.
The Nurse’s Health Study has followed over 120,000 female nurses
who recorded information on cancer incidence, diet and use of aspirin
and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs since the mid-1970s. The current
analysis looks at data from just under 83,000 participants, among whom
there were 962 cases
of colorectal cancer diagnosed during the 20-year study.
The researchers report that the benefit observed for aspirin was only
apparent after 10 years of regular use and was strongest at high dose
levels. A similar risk reduction was seen in women who took regular NSAIDs.
The researchers estimate that a high-dose aspirin regimen might prevent
one or two cases of colorectal cancer for every 10,000 person-years but
that such a regimen would be associated with an excess of eight episodes
of major gastrointestinal bleeding.
“Before we can make any recommendations about whether patients
should take these medicines to reduce their cancer risk, we are going
to need
additional studies that clarify the risks and benefits of such an approach,” said
lead researcher Andrew Chan, of the gastrointestinal unit at Massachusetts
General Hospital. The study is published in JAMA (2005;294:914). |
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