May 13, 2016.
According to a group of American experts, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), low doses of aspirin (75 to 160 milligrams per day) significantly decrease the risk of colorectal cancer. But, be careful, this only works in a specific context.
Aspirin used in a specific context
A study, published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, confirms the idea that aspirin may decrease the risk of one day developing colorectal cancer. But anticoagulants should not be overused. This is why the authors of the study wanted to clarify the contours of their analysis.
According to them, aspirin limits the risk of colorectal cancer, as part of an aspirin treatment (5 to 160 milligrams per day) for people at high risk of having a cardiovascular accident and not prone to bleeding. In this specific case, and only in this case, aspirin limits the risk of heart attacks, strokes and colorectal cancer.
“Â € Š For the first time, the prevention of the risk of colorectal cancer is recognized as a secondary benefit, albeit modest, of treatment with aspirin which aims primarily to prevent the cardiovascular risk.â € Š ”, summarizes Gabriel Steg, cardiologist at Bichat hospital (Paris), in the columns of the World.
Significant results
Another important point: the results of their study are significant only in people aged 50 to 59 years. No beneficial effects of aspirin have been seen in patients less than 50 years of age.
However, for the 10,000 people who met the criteria set out above and whose medical data were analyzed by the group of American experts, aspirin prevented 225 heart attacks, 84 ischemic strokes and 139 colorectal cancers. 588 years of “â € Š quality life â € Š” and 333 years of life are thus gained thanks to aspirin.
In the end, taking 75 mg or more of aspirin for ten to twenty years can decrease the risk of colorectal cancer by up to 40%.
Read also: Symptoms, people and risk factors for colon cancer
