Colorectal cancer and a potential treatment role for aspirin

▸ Chan AT, Ogino S, Fuchs CS. Aspirin use and survival after diagnosis of colorectal cancer. JAMA 2009;302:649–58.

Long-term high dose aspirin in randomised trials suggests it may also reduce the risk of colorectal neoplasia. To assess the influence of aspirin on survival after the diagnosis of colorectal cancer, Chan et al carried out a prospective cohort study of 1279 subjects diagnosed with stage I, II or III colorectal cancer. These participants were in the Nurses Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study in the USA, enrolled in the 1980s (prior to diagnosis) and followed up to June 2008. After a median of 12 years, compared with non-users, participants who regularly used aspirin after diagnosis experienced a hazard ratio (HR) for colorectal cancer-specific mortality of 0.71 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.95) and for overall mortality of 0.79 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.97). Among 719 who did not use aspirin before diagnosis, aspirin use after diagnosis …