Dr. Andrew Chan on Aspirin's Link to Reduced Cancer Risk

Andrew T. Chan, MD, MPH, a research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, discusses the impact of aspirin of cancer risk.

Taking aspirin regularly has been linked to a lower incidence of colorectal cancer in several studies, says Chan. However, his research found that an aspirin regimen is also associated with a 5% lower risk of developing cancer across all tumor types compared to individuals that did not use aspirin.

Chan’s research found that this overall lower rate was mostly associated with lower rates across all gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. This suggests aspirin benefit is particularly strong in GI cancer, but may also stretch beyond that as well, says Chan.