The long-term daily use of aspirin could reduce the risk of developing colon cancer, according to a recent study.
Researchers found that a low-dose of aspirin or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen for at least five years was tied to a lower risk of colorectal cancer, Reuters Health reported. However, there is little protection against the cancer if the low-dose aspirin or NSAiDs aren't taken continuously.
"For aspirin, you would have to take it fairly consistently, meaning at least every other day, for at least five to 10 years for the protective effect to even begin to appear," researcher Dr. John Baron, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina, told the Chicago Tribune. "That's a significant amount of time for side effects to accumulate, all without getting any benefit."
For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 113,000 adults between the ages of 30 and 85 in Denmark between 1994 and 2011.
Researchers found that taking low-dose aspirin daily for at least five years reduced the risk of colon cancer by 27 percent, and taking nonaspirin NSAIDS for the same period of time reduced it by 30 percent.
"The protective association is certainly amazing, and it's a good example of how everyday drugs can have unexpected benefits," Baron said. "But there are also potential risks."
Potential side effects of long-term use, or high-dose use, of NSAIDs include gastrointestinal bleeding with aspirin and heightened risk for heart attack and stroke, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"Self-medication with aspirin or non-aspirin NSAIDs is strongly discouraged, due to the possibility of serious adverse events," Dr. Soren Friis from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen told Reuters Health. "The public should not take any medication regularly without consulting with a physician."
The findings are detailed in the September issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
