Aspirin lowers heart attack risk but raises risk of dangerous bleeding

People without heart disease who take a daily aspirin may lower their risk of a heart attack or stroke, but a new study confirms they also have an increased risk of severe internal bleeding.

U.S. doctors have long advised adults who haven’t had a heart attack or stroke but are at high risk for these events to take a daily aspirin pill, an approach known as primary prevention. Even though there’s clear evidence aspirin works for this purpose, many physicians and patients have been reluctant to follow the recommendations because of the risk of rare but potentially fatal internal bleeding.

For the current study, researchers examined data from 13 clinical trials testing the effects of aspirin against a placebo or no treatment in more than 164,000 adults.

People who took daily aspirin had a 0.38 percent lower absolute risk of heart attacks, strokes or deaths from cardiovascular events than people not taking this drug, researchers report in JAMA.

However, aspirin was also associated with a 0.47 percent higher absolute risk of severe internal bleeding.

Full article: uk.reuters.com

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