Sudhakar Jha
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Written By: Sudhakar Jha | Published : September 17, 2018 5:42 PM IST
The concern has been uncertainty about whether aspirin is beneficial for otherwise healthy older people without vascular conditions © Shutterstock
A new study has found that a daily dose of aspirin can be harmful to your heart health. Dr Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Ageing (NIA) in the US, told a leading daily newspaper, "Clinical guidelines note the benefits of aspirin for preventing heart attacks and strokes in persons with vascular conditions such as coronary artery disease. The concern has been uncertainty about whether aspirin is beneficial for otherwise healthy older people without those conditions."
He added that the new study showed why it was important to conduct a research to get a better picture of aspirin's benefits and the impending risks among healthy older persons.
For the study, the researchers followed thousands of older people for nearly to four years. The Participants of the study took aspirin every day and had not suffered a heart attack or stroke. The study found that the so-called 'wonder pill', aspirin did not help older people live longer or live dementia-free. On the contrary, the participants had a significantly higher risk of bleeding, mostly in the brain and gastrointestinal tract.
The report said that out of those who took aspirin, 90.3 per cent remained alive till the end of the treatment without persistent physical disability or dementia, compared to 90.5 per cent of those taking a placebo. The team also found that the group which took aspirin had an increased risk of death. It was found that in aspirin-taking group there was also a slight increase in cancer cases.
"The increase in cancer deaths in study participants in the aspirin group was surprising, given prior studies suggesting aspirin use improved cancer outcomes," Doctor Leslie Ford, associate director for clinical research, at the National Cancer Institute in the US, reportedly told the daily newspaper.
Adding to the statement, "Analysis of all the cancer-related data from the trial is under way and until we have additional data, these findings should be interpreted with caution."
