September 18, 2025
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Researchers do not know why aspirin helps protect against colon cancer recurrence, but a new study suggests taking it daily halves the risk of certain colon cancers coming back after surgery.
Taking aspirin on a daily basis protects against the recurrence of colon cancer, a new study found.
People who took aspirin every day for three years had a 55% reduced risk of colorectal cancer tumors with a certain genetic mutation returning after surgery. Tumors involving these genetic mutations account for about 40% of colon cancer cases, according to the research published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Because colorectal cancer is a leading cancer, having an over-the-counter, inexpensive medication that could help prevent its recurrence could have global public health and treatment implications, according to the researchers.
More than 150,000 people in the United States are projected to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2025. Although colorectal cancer rates are down in older Americans, rates increased in people 50 and younger by nearly 2.5% a year from 2012 to 2021, according to the American Cancer Society.
The reasons for the increased prevalence of colorectal cancer in younger people are not entirely clear, but alcohol, obesity and other lifestyle and environmental factors may be involved, according to Yale Medicine.
Previous research has indicated that low-dose aspirin may help reduce the risk of certain cancers and the recurrence of colorectal cancer post-surgery for certain genetic mutations. But the outcomes of these studies were inconsistent and only observational.
The new study was a large, randomized clinical trial – a study that controls for known and unknown factors that impact results – involving more than 3,500 patients in Sweden, Denmark and Norway who had had surgery for colon cancer.
Aspirin may help stop colorectal cancer from returning by creating a "less favorable environment" by reducing inflammation and inhibiting platelet function and tumor growth, the researchers said.
