Daily Aspirin Not A Good Choice for Healthy People
FRIDAY, June 5, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Taking a daily aspirin to prevent heart disease has more risks than benefits in healthy people, a new study finds.
The researchers reviewed published evidence on the benefits of taking low-dose aspirin, CNN reported. The study was published Wednesday in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Researchers concluded that the risk of bleeding caused by aspirin’s blood-thinning effect far outweighed any benefit the drug might have.
Both the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association say that only people who have had a heart attack, stroke or open-heart surgery should be taking a daily aspirin.
Researchers found that while a daily aspirin lowered the risk of heart attack or stroke by 17%, the risk for gastrointestinal bleeding was increased by 47% and by 34% for brain bleeding.
“Our paper confirms that there is no evidence for taking aspirin in primary prevention, i.e. in healthy people,” researcher Dr. Lee Smith, a reader in Physical Activity and Public Health at Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K., told CNN.
“The take-home message of our paper is that low dose aspirin is [only] good when you already have a cardiovascular condition,” Smith added.
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