An international study has found that taking a regular low dose of aspirin halves the long-term risk of cancer.
A trial, involving Professor Rodney Scott from Australia’s University of Newcastle and published today in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, focused on people with Lynch syndrome, an inherited genetic disorder that affects genes responsible for identifying and correcting errors in DNA.
The study was led by Professor Sir John Burn from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom and involved scientists and clinicians from 43 centres in 16 countries following more than 800 patients for up to 10 years.
Professor Scott said the benefits of aspirin only became obvious after several years.
“In this trial, the incidence of cancer halved among the group taking daily aspirin, and the effects began to be seen five years after the patients began taking the drug,” he said.
“With all cancers related to Lynch syndrome, including cancer of the endometrium in the womb, almost 30 per cent of the patients taking the placebo had developed a cancer compared to around 15 per cent of those taking aspirin.”
