Washington: Regular use of aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) can reduce most people's colorectal cancer risk but a few individuals with rare genetic variants do not share this benefit, a study has suggested.

"Previous studies, including randomised trials, demonstrated that NSAIDs, particularly aspirin, protect against the development of colorectal cancer, but it remains unclear whether an individual's genetic makeup might influence that benefit," co-senior author Andrew Chan of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Gastroenterology Division said in a statement on Tuesday.