In a new study, researchers found that a regular dose of aspirin to reduce the risk of inherited bowel cancer lasts at least 10 years after stopping treatment.
The international trial—known as CAPP2—involved patients with Lynch syndrome from around the world and revealed that two aspirins a day, for an average of two and a half years, reduced the rate of bowel cancer by half.
The research was led by experts at the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds, UK.
The study involved 861 patients with Lynch syndrome, which affects about one in 200 people in the population.
These people have a genetic problem with DNA repair, making them at much higher risk of cancers such as bowel and womb.
A group of 427 used to aspirin continuously for two years and 434 were allocated to placebo and then they were all followed for 10 years.
Out of those given two aspirins each day (600mg) there were 18 fewer colon cancers, representing a drop of 42.6%.
When all 163 Lynch syndrome cancers are included in the analysis—such as cancer of the endometrium or womb—there was an overall reduced risk of cancer of 24% in those taking aspirin or 37% in those who took aspirin for the full two years.
The findings further strengthen the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommendation on taking daily aspirin for those at high risk and supports wider use of aspirin to prevent cancer.
Based on the preliminary five-year data from the CAPP2 trial, NICE recommended that aspirin should be offered for the prevention of bowel cancer in adults with Lynch syndrome.
The team says two aspirins a day for a couple of years gives protection that lasts more than 10 years and the statistical analysis has become much stronger with time.
For people at high cancer risk, the benefits are clear—aspirin works. The new international trial, CaPP3, will see if smaller doses work just as well.
One author of the study is Professor Sir John Burn, from Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The study is published in The Lancet.
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