> Should
everyone over 50 take aspirin?
Should everyone over 50 be taking low-dose aspirin to prevent
heart attacks?
Some doctors think so. Some don’t. Each person ,not a doctor, should
evaluate the risks and benefits. A recommendation that aspirin be
used, in unselected people over a certain age could result in net
harm, argues some doctors.
Why should people over 50 consider taking low dose aspirin? It’s a
no-brainer for people at high risk of a heart attack unless they
are also at high risk of aspirin’s side effects.
Aspirirn reduces a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke. And
most people at risk of a heart attack don’t know it. That’s why,
the study suggests that it would be an overall benefit if everyone
over 50 simply went ahead and took a baby aspirin every day.
In the UK studies over half of people over 50 are at risk, and
aspirin would beneficial.
Aspirin roughly doubles the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, they
noted.
Which risk is worse? That depends on how one looks at it.It’s a
matter of how you value the benefits and harm. The benefits of
aspirin are reducing harm of heart attack and stroke. Both have
devastating effects on a person and on that person’s family. The
risk from aspirin is a bleed that may lead to a stay in hospital,
blood transfusion.
People need to determine which of those risks they value more and
make their own decision.
Experts point out that bleeds can also be fatal, they don’t advise
against using aspirin to prevent heart attacks, but the decision
to do so should be based on a doctor’s advise.
The 2002 U.S. guidelines for using aspirin to prevent heart attack
and stoke, say that doctors should discuss daily aspirin with any
patient at risk of heart attack or stroke.
The benefits of daily aspirin appear to be proportional to a
person’s underlying cardiac risk. The advice is it isn’t something
that should be taken without some additional thought. It is not so
hard to assess a person’s heart risk. So more and more guideline
say that move beyond treating people at an age number and move
toward treating the heart risk, they say.
