Antibiotic use (pills/capsules) is linked to a heightened risk of bowel (colon) cancer, but a lower risk of rectal cancer, and depends, to some extent, on the type and class of drug prescribed, suggests new research.

The findings suggest a pattern of risk that may be linked to differences in gut microbiome (bacteria) activity along the length of the bowel and reiterate the importance of judicious prescribing, say the researchers.

In 2010, patients around the world took an estimated 70 billion doses of antibiotics — equivalent to 10 doses each. Antibiotics have a strong and long lasting impact on the gut microbiome, altering the balance of helpful and harmful bacteria.

The researchers wanted to find out if this might affect bowel and rectal cancer risk, and how.

They drew on data submitted to the nationally representative Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) between 1989 and 2012.

This contains the anonymised medical records of around 11.3 million people from 674 general practices — around 7% of the UK population.

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