American heart disease experts are the latest to question the long-accepted wisdom of taking a daily aspirin to ward off heart attacks.from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association says the drug “should be used infrequently” for the purpose of preventing cardiovascular disease “because of lack of net benefit” for most adults.
Prior U.S. guidelines had recommended a daily low dose of aspirin -- between 75 and 100 milligrams -- as a primary method of cardiovascular disease prevention for people with known risk factors. Daily aspirin use is listed as possibly providing a weak benefit to adults known to be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, but specifically not at greater risk of bleeding. While reducing the chance that blood will clot in a patient’s artery, aspirin also increases the odds that the patient will bleed.
One study published last fall showed that positive cardiovascular outcomes from an aspirin regimen were “equally balanced by major bleeding events.” It estimated that if 10,000 people took low-dose aspirin every day for a year, four fewer would suffer a heart attack or stroke than if none of the 10,000 had taken aspirin, while seven more would suffer serious bleeding in their skull, brain, stomach or gut.
The opinions on this have flipped so often the discussion has become useless.