Daily HealthBeat Tip

Aspirin and colon cancer

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Taking two or more regular aspirin or ibuprofen a week seems to reduce the chance of getting colon cancer, but the study that found this also raises questions about whether taking the drugs is worth the risk.

The study by Dr. Andrew Chan of Harvard Medical School had support from the National Institutes of Health and was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Women using the drugs had a 23 percent lower risk of colon cancer, but only after ten years of use. The most benefit came on high doses of two or more a day. There was no benefit with low doses. And Chan says the drugs had a downside:

"Unfortunately, these higher aspirin doses were also associated with a higher risk of side effects, such as gastrointestinal bleeding." (six seconds)

Chan says regular screening is still the prime defense against colorectal cancer.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: October 4, 2005

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