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Can aspirin prevent colorectal cancer? Two large randomized primary prevention trials showed no effect after 10 years of follow-up (Journal Watch May 8 1998 and Aug 2 2005), but perhaps this time frame was too short.
Investigators studied long-term cancer outcomes in two randomized studies from the U.K. In one trial, 5139 men (mean age, 62) received aspirin (300 or 500 mg daily) or no aspirin for 5 to 6 years. In the other, 2449 patients with a recent cerebrovascular event received aspirin (300 or 1200 mg daily) or placebo for 1 to 7 years. Data on cancers and deaths for a median of 23 years after study entry were obtained from national registries. In both trials, patients who took aspirin had significantly fewer colorectal cancers during th…