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Regular aspirin use has been associated with a reduced risk for colorectal cancer. Now a review of studies has found that it may reduce the risk for several other digestive tract cancers as well. Researchers pooled data from 113 studies and found that daily aspirin use among people aged 40 to 75 was associated with a 27 percent reduction in the risk for colorectal cancer, a 36 percent reduction in stomach cancer, a 33 percent reduction in esophageal cancer, a 38 percent reduction in liver and gallbladder cancer, and a 22 percent reduction in pancreatic cancer. (Bakalar, 4/21)

A large new study of patients with sepsis has found that broad-spectrum antibiotics are frequently administered to patients not infected with antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and are associated with higher mortality in these patients. The study, published last week in JAMA Network Open, looked at data on more than 17,000 culture-positive community-onset sepsis patients in US hospitals and found that more than two-thirds received antibiotics targeting drug-resistant organisms like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.  Yet only in one in eight sepsis patients had resistant gram-positive or gram-negative organisms, respectively. Treatment with unnecessary broad-spectrum antibiotics was associated with a 22% increase in mortality. (Dall, 4/21)

In this cohort study of 14 987 male Fire Department of the City of New York rescue/recovery workers, the overall age-adjusted incidence rate of thyroid cancer among the Fire Department of the City of New York World Trade Center–exposed cohort was significantly greater than the rate among demographically similar, non–World Trade Center–exposed men. This difference may be explained by the high rate of asymptomatic cancers detected among individuals from the Fire Department of the City of New York; in addition, the Fire Department of the City of New York found no thyroid cancer–specific deaths or metastatic disease. (Colbeth et al, 4/20)

More than 22 million people in the U.S. have filed unemployment claims since the beginning of the coronavirus economic shutdown in March. Since most people get health insurance through their own jobs or through a spouse or parent’s job, the question is: Just how many people in the U.S. have lost their insurance as a result of the pandemic? (Collins et al, 4/21)

Women born by cesarean section are at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. The report, in JAMA Network Open, included 33,226 women born between 1946 and 1964, and followed for up to 25 years. More than a third were obese, and 6 percent had a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. Compared with women born vaginally, those born by C-section had an 11 percent increased relative risk for obesity and a 46 percent increased risk for diabetes. (Bakalar, 4/20)