Aspirin raises the risk of severe internal bleeding, doctors warn
Science Alert: Anyone in the habit of taking a daily aspirin should know the risks involved, say the researchers behind a new study: while it reduces the risk of a heart attack or stroke, it raises the risk of severe internal bleeding. In this particular study we’re talking about adults without existing heart disease conditions, and scientists say the potential dangers outweigh the potential benefits – so think twice about popping an aspirin a day in the future.
The new research is a meta-study of previous clinical trials, looking at trends and patterns across more than 164,000 individuals, and it challenges conventional wisdom that daily aspirins are a safe way for cutting down the risk of heart disease, especially for older people.
“This study demonstrates that there is insufficient evidence to recommend routine aspirin use in the prevention of heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths in people without cardiovascular disease,” says one of the researchers, Sean Zheng from King’s College London in the UK.
“There has been more uncertainty surrounding what should be done in patients who are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and in patients with diabetes.
This study shows that while cardiovascular events may be reduced in these patients, these benefits are matched by an increased risk of major bleeding events.”
Even before this study arrived, the experts said people should only take regular low doses of aspirin on a doctor’s advice – there are a lot of health factors to consider with the blood-thinning drug, even though we know it can be a very effective medicine.
Now the picture is a little more clear. Over the thousands of people included in the meta-study, those who took daily aspirin had a 0.38 percent lower absolute risk of heart attacks, strokes, or death from cardiovascular events.