Harnessing aspirin’s potential to improve prevention, treatment, and healthy ageing across the cancer journey. This aligns with the latest research on cancer: recommendations for prevention and innovation that could greatly influence future therapies.

Based on the findings of intensive research and particularly informed by the relative safety of aspirin, we make several recommendations these are as follows:

Cancer prevention : We call for a more testing of Lynch syndrome and use of aspirin as per NICE guidelines for bowel cancer prevention (1).

• We also call for an expanded UK bowel cancer screening programme to now also include aspirin, as is currently the case within Australia (2).

Suspected cancer : We call for patients on waiting lists for suspected cancer to be given information on the benefits and risks of aspirin (3).

• We also call for patients over the age of 50 for whom no cancer is then diagnosed to be informed about a role of aspirin in healthy ageing (4).

Diagnosed cancer : We call for evidence on aspirin to be presented after confirmed diagnosis and be fully used in current indications (5).

• We also call for anticipatory measures to be taken on emerging evidence, such as the testing for the PI3K gene in bowel cancer (6). 

Incurable cancer : We call for the role of aspirin to be maximised, such as the use of aspirin in vascular disease, so called cardio-oncology (7).

• We also call for the practice of aspirin de-prescribing in end of life care (8) to be re-evaluated as stopping aspirin may have a negative impact.

Cancer survivors : We call for cancer survivors to be given information on the potential role of aspirin to reduce their vascular disease risk (9).

• We also call for this to be extended to adult survivors of childhood and teenage cancers who also carry risks of future vascular disease (10).

Childhood cancer : We call for more awareness, research & potential use of aspirin for cancer prevention in children and teenagers (11).

• We also call for more research to be done on the potential role of aspirin as an adjuvant treatment in childhood and teenage cancer (12).

Anyone considering taking aspirin should first seek medical advice.

References:

1. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.   https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng151/resources/lynch-syndrome-should-i-take-aspirin-to-reduce-my-chance-of-getting-bowel-cancer-pdf-8834927869
2. Onwuka S, McIntosh J, Boyd L, Karnchanachari N, Macrae F, Fishman G, Emery J. Should I take aspirin? A qualitative study on the implementation of a decision aid on taking aspirin for bowel cancer prevention. Fam Med Community Health. 2023 Nov 30;11(Suppl 1):e002423. doi: 10.1136/fmch-2023-002423. PMID: 38035774; PMCID: PMC10689404.
3. Elwood P.  Preserving the benefits of an ‘early’ diagnosis with low-dose aspirin.  British Medical Journal  2024;384:q342
4. Morgan P. On the potential contribution of aspirin to healthy ageing programmes. Age and Ageing 2016; 45(2) e1–e3, https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afr139
5. MPN voice.  https://www.mpnvoice.org.uk/about-mpns/treatments/aspirin/
6. Martling A, Hed Myrberg I, Nilbert M, Grönberg H, Granath F, Eklund M, Öresland T, Iversen LH, Haapamäki C, Janson M, Westberg K, Segelman J, Ersson U, Prytz M, Angenete E, Bergström R, Mayrhofer M, Glimelius B, Lindberg J; ALASCCA Study Group. Low-Dose Aspirin for PI3K-Altered Localized Colorectal Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2025 Sep 18;393(11):1051-1064. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2504650. PMID: 40961426. 
7. British Cardiovascular Society https://britishcardiovascularsociety.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Editorials/Mohamed-Dafaallah-ESC-Cardio-oncology-guidelines.pdf
8. Murphy L, Brown C, Smith A, Cranfield F, Sharp L, Visvanathan K, Bennett K, Barron TI. End-of-life prescribing of aspirin in patients with breast or colorectal cancer. BMJ Support Palliat Care. 2019 Mar;9(1):e6. doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2017-001370. Epub 2017 Aug 24. PMID: 28838931
9. Li Q, Zhang G, Li X, Xu S, Wang H, Deng J, Cheng Z, Fan F, Chen S, Yang M, Tang LV, Hu Y. Risk of cardiovascular disease among cancer survivors: systematic review and meta-analysis. EClinicalMedicine. 2025 Jun 5;84:103274. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2025.103274. PMID: 40524799; PMCID: PMC12169785.
10. Berkman AM, Wang M, Santucci A, Duprez D, Solovey AN, Srivastava D, Joshi VM, Green DM, Robison LL, Ness KK, Hudson MM, Mulrooney DA. Vascular Assessment in Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study Report. JACC Adv. 2025 Jun;4(6 Pt 1):101820. doi: 10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.101820. Epub 2025 May 29. PMID: 40446733; PMCID: PMC12166415.
11. Leenders EKSM, Westdorp H, Brüggemann RJ, Loeffen J, Kratz C, Burn J, Hoogerbrugge N, Jongmans MCJ. Cancer prevention by aspirin in children with Constitutional Mismatch Repair Deficiency (CMMRD). Eur J Hum Genet. 2018 Oct;26(10):1417-1423. doi: 10.1038/s41431-018-0197-0. Epub 2018 Jun 14. PMID: 29904176; PMCID: PMC6138701.
12. Morgan G. Aspirin as adjuvant therapy in childhood cancer? Br J Cancer. 2012 Jan 3;106(1):240. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2011.467. Epub 2011 Nov 10. PMID: 22075944; PMCID: PMC3251843.