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Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, including aspirin, inhibit development of premalignant colon adenomas and cancers. Do they also offer protection after cancer develops? A team from Harvard identified 1279 cases of stages I to III colorectal cancer that had developed in two large cohorts — participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Before and for 12 years after their diagnoses of colorectal cancer, participants were evaluated regularly for medication use.
Compared with nonusers, subjects who regularly used aspirin after their diagnoses exhibited a 29% relative reduction in colorectal cancer–related mortality and a 21% relative reduction in overall mortality. This lower risk for colorectal cance…