A daily dose of aspirin should be given to people at high risk of bowel cancer, say scientists. Two pills a day for two years reduced the incidence of bowel cancer by 63% in a group of 861 at-risk patients, a study reported in The Lancet said. Newcastle University's Prof Sir John Burn, who led the study, said the evidence “seems overwhelmingly strong”. Other experts said the findings added to a growing body of proof that aspirin could be used in the fight with cancer. The study was conducted on 861 patients with Lynch syndrome, which affects one in every 1,000 people. They struggle to detect and repair damaged DNA which means they are more likely to develop a range of cancers including those of the bowel, womb and stomach. When looking at all patients in the trial, those in the group given 600 milligrams of aspirin every day developed 19 tumours compared to 34 tumours in the other “control” group, a reduction of 44%. When the researchers looked at just those patients who took the medication for at least two years the reduction was 63%. There was also an effect on other cancers linked to Lynch syndrome, which fell by half in the treatment group. However, there would also be side effects. The lower the risk of heart attack or cancer, the lower the benefit of taking aspirin . Sir John said that it was a “finely balanced argument” and that he decided the risks were worth it for him. “I think where we're headed for is people that are in their 50s and 60s would look very seriously at adding a low dose aspirin to their daily routine because it's giving protection against cancer, heart attack and stroke. People who've got a clear family history of, particularly, bowel cancer should seriously consider adding low dose aspirin to their routine and particularly those people who've got a genetic predisposition.” Aspirin is already well known to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in high risk patients.
