CANCER DIGEST – Sept. 7, 2021 – Researchers at Umea University in Sweden have found that both men and women who took antibiotics for over six months ran a 17 percent greater risk of developing cancer of the ascending or upper colon than similar patients who were not prescribed antibiotics. The study was published in the Sept. 1, 2021 Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
“The results underline the fact that there are many reasons to be restrictive with antibiotics," said Sophia Harlid in a press release, a cancer researcher at Umeå University. "While in many cases antibiotic therapy is necessary and saves lives, in the event of less serious ailments that can be expected to heal anyway, caution should be exercised. Above all to prevent bacteria from developing resistance but, as this study shows, also because antibiotics may increase the risk of future colon cancer.”
The study analyzed data from 40,545 patients registered on the Swedish Colorectal Cancer Registry from 2010 to 2016. The cancer diagnoses were compared to a matched control group of 202,720 cancer-free people in the at-large Swedish population. Data on antibiotic use was collected from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register for 2005 to 2016.
When they compared the two groups, they found that moderate antibiotic use was associated with a 15 percent higher colon cancer risk compared to no use, and a 17 percent higher risk of colon cancer among high use patients compared to no use subjects.
The results confirm earlier, smaller studies showing a link between extended use of antibiotics and colon cancer.
Sources: Umea University press release written by Ola Nilsson and the Journal of National Cancer Institute
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