August 2, 2024 – People who drink alcohol, smoke or produce other unhealthy lifestyle habits reminiscent of poor weight loss plan and lack of exercise may reduce their risk of colon or rectal cancer by taking aspirin, a brand new study suggests.
The findings are necessary as researchers look for tactics to cut back the danger of colon cancer, which is the second leading reason behind cancer deaths within the United States and is diagnosed more often in younger adults. The findings were published today in JAMA Oncology.
The researchers wanted to seek out out whether certain groups of individuals could particularly profit from taking aspirin. Despite aspirin's long-known role in stopping colon cancer, the drug can be related to gastrointestinal bleeding, which influences whether it is strongly recommended as a preventative drug.
Aspirin may also be used to alleviate pain or inflammation and might act as a blood thinner.
This latest study included data from greater than 100,000 people within the United States who were followed for many years and answered questionnaires about their health and lifestyle habits. The average age of study participants was just over 49 years old. People who took two or more standard-dose aspirin tablets (325 milligrams) weekly or low-dose aspirin (81 milligrams) every day were compared with individuals who didn’t take aspirin. The researchers also analyzed the danger of colon cancer based on aspects reminiscent of being chubby or obese, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and weight loss plan.
People with the healthiest lifestyle habits had similar rates of colon cancer whether or not they took aspirin or not. The colon cancer risk rate for the healthiest lifestyle group was 1.5% with aspirin and 1.6% without aspirin.
In contrast, individuals with the unhealthiest lifestyles had a significantly lower risk when taking aspirin than those that didn’t take it. The risk rate for colon cancer within the unhealthy lifestyle group was 2.1% with aspirin and three.4% without. Smoking and a high body mass index (an indicator of chubby or obesity) were mostly related to the next risk, the authors wrote.
“Our results show that aspirin can proportionally reduce the significantly increased risk in patients with multiple risk factors for colon cancer,” said lead writer and gastroenterologist Dr. Daniel Sikavi in ​​a Press release from Mass General Brigham in Boston. “In contrast, people with healthier lifestyles have a lower baseline risk of colon cancer, and therefore their benefit from aspirin was still obvious, although less pronounced.”
Aspirin may affect the event of cancer in several ways, including through its effects on body processes reminiscent of inflammation, cell growth, immune responses and the blood supply to cancer cells, Mass General Brigham summarized in its press release.
The study had necessary limitations, the authors said, including that each one of the people studied worked in health care and most were white, so further studies with a more diverse population are warranted. This latest study also didn’t examine potential uncomfortable side effects of aspirin use, reminiscent of bleeding.