For years, it was believed that taking small doses of aspirin daily was preventive – it protects against heart disease. We believed it until last year, when it turned out that it could be quite the opposite – aspirin can harm healthy people. Now, however, scientists have found evidence again to ingest this drug every day. Who’s right?
Is Aspirin Good For Your Heart?
Acetylsalicylic acid, or the popular aspirin, is one of the oldest drugs. The substance occurs in its natural form, for example, in willow bark, and in this form it was used already in antiquity. Aspirin tablets have been sold for over 100 years. It is still one of the most popular painkillers, antipyretics and anti-inflammatory drugs on the market.
Aspirin has been very carefully studied. In the 70s, scientists discovered that it can be used in people who are at risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. It was then that doctors began recommending small doses to patients as a preventive measure.
However, after the publication of research by scientists from Monash University in Australia, there was an earthquake in the medical world. It turned out that aspirin did not reduce the risk of acute cardiovascular events in healthy people over 70 years of age. What’s more, researchers found that taking aspirin on a permanent basis can cause life-threatening hemorrhages. Doctors then decided that the use of this drug in healthy people is not justified – the risk is too high.
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Research on aspirin
And although the case seemed closed, the topic of prophylactic aspirin intake was back again. The medical journal “Annals of Internal Medicine” published the results of the study, which showed that aspirin reduces the risk of heart problems in patients at risk, but not only. During the test, it turned out that aspirin was also protective in people who did not have a greater likelihood of developing cardiovascular diseases. At least 12 percent men and 2 percent. women with no history of cardiac events experienced positive effects of five years of aspirin therapy.
Importantly, the authors of the study argue that the benefits of aspirin outweigh the potential risks of bleeding. In other words, it is better to take aspirin because there is a greater chance of suffering from cardiovascular disease than experiencing severe bleeding. Their conclusions are therefore opposite to those of the Monash specialists.
Should we take aspirin every day then? Even the authors of the new study are far from making such recommendations. They believe that further analysis is needed. The study was conducted on 245 thousand. healthy adults aged 30-79 from New Zealand. Experts don’t know if the results would have been the same in another group.
See also: When your heart fails, your body sends you warning signals
Aspirin every day – yes or no?
Who, then, should take aspirin every day? Prof. Zbigniew Gaciong in an interview with PAP said that among people who are recommended to take this drug regularly are patients after heart attacks, strokes, heart surgeries and those suffering from atherosclerosis.
What about the rest? Nobody should take aspirin prophylactically on their own. Only a doctor can recommend such therapy, after a thorough interview and analysis of the test results. Instead of relying on aspirin, it is better to implement other elements of cardiovascular disease prevention. What? The most important thing is to quit smoking, reduce the amount of alcohol you drink, eat healthy, exercise regularly, have tests, and keep your cholesterol and blood pressure levels low. These are the best ways to reduce your risk of developing serious heart problems. And – importantly – scientists have no doubts about them, unlike aspirin.
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