
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Weekly aspirin use may reduce the risk of developing colorectal cancer—especially in those with unhealthy lifestyles—a new study found, as experts warn colorectal cancer is affecting younger populations and harmful lifestyle choices may be to blame.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p>The study followed almost 108,000 men and women with an average starting age of 49 years old for three decades, and researchers recorded their aspirin intake and assigned them lifestyle scores based on their BMI, diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption and cigarette use.</p>



<p>The study found participants with regular aspirin use—which is considered as two or more standard 325 mg pills, or at least six low-dose 81 mg tablets, per week—had a lower risk of developing colorectal cancer, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2821928?guestAccessKey=272cd587-5b58-46d3-88ff-96c77577f1cc&amp;utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_content=tfl&amp;utm_term=080124" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">study</a>&nbsp;published Thursday in JAMA Oncology.</p>



<p>Aspirin’s benefits were the most pronounced among the participants with the most unhealthy lifestyles, especially those who smoked cigarettes and had higher BMIs: This group had a 3.4% chance of getting colorectal cancer if they did not take regular aspirin and a 2.12% chance of getting colorectal cancer if they took aspirin regularly.</p>



<p>In comparison, in participants with the healthiest lifestyle scores, the colorectal cancer rates were 1.5% in the regular aspirin-taking group and 1.6% in the non-regular aspirin group.</p>



<p>The researchers pointed to previous <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014299921003265" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">evidence</a> that suggests aspirin can reduce the production of pro-inflammatory proteins, known as prostaglandins, which are known to promote the development of cancer, as the reason aspirin lowers colorectal cancer risk.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why Is Colorectal Cancer On The Rise In Young Adults?</h2>



<p>A recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2024/07/31/cancer-rates-increased-among-millennials-and-gen-x-study-suggests-heres-why/">study</a>&nbsp;found 17 types of cancers were becoming more prevalent among millennials and Generation X. Some 10 of those cancers were obesity-related, and colorectal cancer was one of them. Around 20% of all colorectal diagnoses in 2019 were in Americans under age 55—double the rate in 1995—according to a 2023 American Cancer Society&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/colorectal-cancer-facts-and-figures/colorectal-cancer-facts-and-figures-2023.pdf" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">report</a>. Both the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/colorectal-cancer-screening" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Preventive Services Task Force</a>&nbsp;and the U.S. Multisociety Task Force on Colorectal Cancer&nbsp;<a href="https://ascopost.com/news/november-2021/us-multisociety-task-force-on-colorectal-cancer-releases-updated-screening-recommendations/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">recommended</a>&nbsp;in 2021 most Americans be screened for colorectal cancer at age 45, which is five years earlier than previously recommended, and continue with screenings periodically until age 75. Colorectal cancer has risen from being the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men and women under 50 during the late 1990s, to being the first in men and second in women, according to a January ACS&nbsp;<a href="https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3322/caac.21820" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">report</a>. Breast cancer is the leading cause in women under age 50. Experts aren’t entirely sure why there’s a rise of colorectal cancer cases in younger people, but&nbsp;<a href="https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/features/colon-and-rectal-cancer-on-the-rise-in-young-adults-/2024/03" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">they believe</a>&nbsp;certain lifestyle factors like diet, lack of movement, obesity, tobacco and alcohol use and environmental exposure to certain chemicals may be to blame. Obesity rates have been increasing for decades, and almost half of the U.S. is predicted to be obese by 2030, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1909301?query=featured_home" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">research</a>&nbsp;published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Several studies have linked diets high in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41575-024-00893-5" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">ultra-processed foods</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cncy.22582" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">antibiotics</a>&nbsp;to certain cancers, and research has found the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2021/october/ultra-processed-foods.html" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">consumption</a>&nbsp;of ultra-processed foods among Americans has increased substantially since 2001.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Big Number</h2>



<p>152,000. That’s about how many Americans are expected to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, the American Cancer Society <a href="https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/colon-rectal-cancer/about/key-statistics.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">predicts</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Background</h2>



<p>The Preventive Services Task Force previously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/aspirin-to-prevent-cardiovascular-disease-and-cancer-april-2016" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">recommended</a>&nbsp;in 2016 adults in their 50s take low-dose aspirin every day for prevention of colorectal cancer and heart disease. However, this suggestion was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/aspirin-to-prevent-cardiovascular-disease-preventive-medication" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">dropped</a>&nbsp;in 2022, and the organization said it was unclear if aspirin reduced the risk of colorectal cancer. This came after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2020/aspree-aspirin-increases-advanced-cancer" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">research</a>&nbsp;from 2020 suggested older people who took a daily low dose of aspirin actually had an elevated risk of advanced cancer and death from cancer.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2024/07/31/cancer-rates-increased-among-millennials-and-gen-x-study-suggests-heres-why/">Cancer Rates Increased Among Millennials And Gen X, Study Suggests—Here’s Why</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>


I have the worst pain ever

Regular Aspirin Use May Reduce Colorectal Cancer Risk, Study Suggests—What To Know


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Aspirin improves survival for Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital, according to new peer reviewed research&nbsp;<a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.3890?utm_source=For_The_Media&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=ftm_links&amp;utm_term=032422" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<em>JAMA Network Open</em>, adding to evidence that the widely used, inexpensive drug can be repurposed as a tool to fight Covid.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Patients who were given aspirin within one day of being hospitalized with moderate Covid-19 were nearly 14% less likely to die in hospital within 28 days than patients who did not, according to a study involving more than 112,000 patients in the U.S. between January 1, 2020, through September 10, 2021.</p>



<p>In absolute terms, the researchers found early aspirin use in hospitals cut the risk of death by 1.6%, meaning 63 patients would need to be treated with the drug to prevent one in-hospital death.</p>



<p>Rates of pulmonary embolism—a blood clot that blocks a blood vessel in the lungs—were also “significantly lower,” nearly 30%, in patients who received aspirin, the researchers found.</p>



<p>Patients over the age of 60 or with other medical conditions appeared to benefit most from early aspirin treatment in hospital, the study found.</p>



<p>Though aspirin carries some risk common to blood thinning drugs, there were no significant differences in the rates of bleeding complications between patients who received aspiring and those who did not — but researchers said the risks should still be &#8220;carefully weighed before treatment.&#8221;</p>



<p>The researchers said a randomized control trial—the gold standard of clinical research—should be conducted to confirm their findings, which by design could not definitively establish a causal link between aspirin use and the reduction in hospital deaths.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Aspirin is one of the most widely used drugs in medicine. It’s well-studied, widely available and cheap, commonly used to treat pain, fever, inflammation and to help prevent heart attacks and strokes. It also thins the blood by interfering with platelets, a type of blood cell involved in the clotting process. Even mild Covid infections have been associated with a wide range of clotting problems, prompting researchers to explore the potential of aspirin in treating the disease. The study is in line with other observational studies on the matter, which also found reductions in the number of patients dying in hospital or an increase in the number of patients discharged for those taking aspirin.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2022/03/18/risk-of-brain-blood-clots-significantly-higher-after-covid-infection-than-pfizer-moderna-shots-study-finds/?sh=342f83ee4404">Risk Of Brain Blood Clots ‘Significantly Higher’ After Covid Infection Than Pfizer, Moderna Shots, Study Finds</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/even-mild-covid-can-increase-the-risk-of-heart-problems/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Even Mild COVID Can Increase the Risk of Heart Problems</a> (Scientific American)</p>



<p><strong><em>By Robert Hart, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


Tag: Aspirin

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Regular Aspirin Use May Reduce Colorectal Cancer Risk, Study Suggests—What To Know

Aspirin Improves Survival For Hospitalized Covid Patients, Study Finds