TUESDAY, Aug. 6, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Aspirin use is associated with a reduction in colorectal cancer (CRC) risk, with the greatest reduction seen among those with the unhealthiest lifestyle scores, according to a study published online Aug. 1 in JAMA Oncology.

Daniel R. Sikavi, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined whether aspirin use is associated with the risk for CRC across different lifestyle risk factors in a prospective cohort study involving 63,957 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (1980 to 2018) and 43,698 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986 to 2018).

The researchers identified 2,544 incident cases of CRC during 3,038,215 person-years of follow-up. The 10-year cumulative CRC incidence rates were 1.98 and 2.95 percent for those who regularly used aspirin and those who did not use aspirin, respectively, corresponding to an absolute risk reduction (ARR) of 0.97 percent. Those with the unhealthiest lifestyle scores had the greatest ARR associated with aspirin use, which decreased progressively with healthier lifestyle scores. For lifestyle scores of 0 to 1 (unhealthiest), the 10-year ARR was 1.28 percent compared with 0.11 percent for scores 4 to 5 (healthiest). The 10-year number needed to treat with aspirin was 78, 164, 154, and 909 for participants with lifestyle scores of 0 to 1, 2, 3, and 4 to 5, respectively. The greatest differences in ARR associated with aspirin use were seen for body mass index and smoking.

“These results support the use of lifestyle risk factors to identify individuals who may have a more favorable risk-benefit profile for cancer prevention with aspirin,” the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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