Can popping low dose aspirin really lower your risk of heart disease, dementia, cancer and stroke in the elderly? No, says a large scale study that was actually meant to study how aspirin could help!
The researchers studied over 19,000 people over the age group of 65 and 70 who were asked to take aspirin or placebo over a period of four and half years. The findings, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, not only showed no positive effect, it actually showed that popping low dose aspirin could do you harm.
So yes, don’t pop aspirin if you are healthy. It will do your heart health no good, as is popularly believed.
What’s worse, it increased the risk of significant bleeding in the digestive tract, brain or other sites, that required transfusions or admission to the hospital.
Aspirin is commonly taken by millions of healthy people who have bought into the health benefits of the pill, specially in the US. In India, cardiologists have been aware of the side effects of aspirin and prescribe to only elderly patients who have a previous history of heart attack, stroke or angina, says Dr Ashok Seth.
We very carefully prescribe aspirin to only those elderly patients who have a history of heart disease. And we have to monitor these patients as well because aspirin carries the risk of bleeding in the GI track and brain, specially in the elderly. But here the benefits outweigh the risks.Dr Ashok Seth, Director, Fortis Escorts
But aspirin is commonly misused and over prescribed by other doctors and is easily available over-the-counter even in India. This study should serve as a warning to those who pop pills without proper medical advice.
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