Currently, international guidelines regarding aspirin usage state that those who are between 50 to 59 that have had a risk of cardiovascular disease higher than ten percent for ten or more years might benefit from taking low doses of aspirin daily. Additionally, this population should not be at an increased risk of bleeding issues.
There are other groups of people that can benefit from daily aspirin use, but current guidelines suggest that this population should consider this on a case by case basis. For example, those that are between the ages of 60 and 69 and fit into the description described above are also recommended to take aspirin on a daily basis–but only if the side effects and risks of doing so are less than the benefits that they would gain from aspirin.
New research indicates that these guidelines might need to be rethought. The current wisdom on aspirin is changing. For example, the thought process not too long ago was that everyone over the age of 50 should take aspirin to help improve heart health. The guidelines mentioned above were revised in August of 2023 when more and more research showed that daily aspirin wasn’t as effective as once thought.
New research challenges this thought. By looking at clinical trials that involved over 47,000, a team of researchers looked at a much smaller group of people from those trials–only about 7,000. They focused in on people that were already taking aspirin prior to their research beginning. The data showed that if they stopped taking aspirin during the trials, their risk of having a heart attack or stroke went up slightly. It changed from 10.4 percent to 12.5 percent.
As mentioned above, the current guidelines suggest that it might be right to stop taking aspirin for some people once they get into their 60s. However, the risk of a heart attack or stroke for these people might actually go up if they do so.
Working with a doctor is the best way to keep yourself healthy. It’s not clear if aspirin is the cause of this increased risk or if stopping taking aspirin removed the protection that was helping. There’s more research needed here. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about keeping your heart healthy.
Aspirin’s efficacy has been called into question many times over the last ten years or so. However, it was such a widely held belief that it was helpful that it’s a practice that many still cling to, just because that’s how it has always been. Finding more effective methods of treating and preventing heart disease is important and research like this helps to ensure that we keep moving forward in this respect.
This research comes out of the University of Galway. They published their findings in the medical journal, Circulation. Hopefully, the research helps people to live a higher quality of life down the road. Hopefully, it helps future researchers to do quality work, too.
Please talk with your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about heart health.
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