Daily aspirin can provoke premature death

Should we take aspirin daily?

Many people take aspirin regularly or even daily. Researchers have now found that taking aspirin on a daily basis is associated with a higher risk of premature death.

Researchers at Monash University in Australia found in their recent research that taking aspirin on a daily basis is redundant in many people and may even harm their health. Especially healthy people over the age of 70 often have no benefit from the daily use of aspirin. The physicians published the results of their study in three separate articles in the English-language journal New England Journal of Medicine..

Aspirin can have a positive effect on people who have already had a stroke or heart attack. But there are also people who take aspirin for the prevention of disease. This can lead to negative health effects. (Image: BillionPhotos.com/fotolia.com)

How does daily intake affect life expectancy??

The results of the study show that many older people are taking aspirin unnecessarily. This usually led to no real health benefit for those affected. On the contrary, the intake was associated with a significantly increased risk of severe internal bleeding, the researchers report in one of their articles. Another report also shows that the likelihood of dying prematurely is increased by taking aspirin. Aspirin-consuming people who had not previously had a stroke or heart attack and were not taking aspirin lived longer than aspirin-ingesting individuals.

Ingestion to prevent disease is often not recommended

Many older people take the drug unnecessarily and the intake leads to very little benefit in these individuals, the authors of the study declare in their third article. There is no reason to use aspirin to prevent disease in healthy people, say the doctors. The intake could even cause damage. Aspirin has long been used as a preventive measure to prevent blood clots in high-risk patients. However, the results of the study show that many older people take medicine completely unnecessary, explains study author Professor John McNeil of Monash University.

People with certain conditions should continue taking aspirin

The physician warns, however, that the findings are not valid for people with existing diseases such as a previous heart attack, angina or a stroke. Aspirin is recommended for these conditions to prevent further illness. Before you start taking aspirin daily or suddenly stop taking it, you should urgently seek medical advice, say the experts. The authors advise against self-medication in the absence of a definitive medical indication, but explain that those who have been taking aspirin should not stop taking it from one day to the next.

Hopefully, the study can eliminate ambiguity about aspirin

There is uncertainty as to whether taking aspirin is beneficial for otherwise healthy older people. The results of the current study show why it is so important to carry out this kind of research. This allows people to get a better picture of the benefits and risks of aspirin. In the treatment of heart disease or in the treatment of heart attacks aspirin is a true panacea, say the experts. But for patients without these symptoms aspirin is not necessarily beneficial. The intake seems to bring more harm than good in terms of the risk of major bleeding, the doctors say. (As)