Study: Aspirin Cuts Colon Cancer Long-Term

Women randomly assigned to take aspirin have a lower long-term risk of colorectal cancer, a large follow-up study finds. The women were cancer free (except non-melanoma skin cancers) when the study began. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group took low-dose aspirin every other day. The other group took placebo (fake) pills. The study lasted 10 years. By the end, the difference in colorectal cancer rates between the groups was small enough that it could have been caused by chance. But women were urged to continue their treatments. About 33,000 agreed to let researchers keep track of them long-term. That’s when researchers started seeing a difference. For the whole 18-year period, colorectal cancer rates were 20% lower in the aspirin group. But the difference for years 10 through 18 was 42%. Women who took aspirin did have more side effects.