No one-size-fits-all
for aspirin and elders
(This article was first printed in the September
2005 issue of the Harvard Heart Letter.
For more information or to order, please go
to www.health.harvard.edu/heart.)
If you’re over age 70 and don’t
have heart disease, you might want to think twice
before taking a daily aspirin for your heart.
Among people with heart disease, regardless
of age, aspirin is a proven strategy for keeping
heart attacks and clot-related (ischemic) strokes
at bay. Among healthy individuals, though, aspirin’s
side effects may offset its benefits.
Australian researchers used a computer model
to test what would happen if 20,000 healthy men
and women between the ages of 70 and 74 started
taking a daily low-dose aspirin. The model was
programmed to follow each individual until death
or age 100.
On average, aspirin prevented 765 heart attacks
and clot-caused strokes. It also caused 1,201
cases of major gastrointestinal bleeding and
bleeding (hemorrhagic) strokes. The results appeared
in the June 4, 2005, British Medical Journal.
We say “on average” because the
model was repeated many times, with different
results. The range of results means it is impossible
to make a blanket statement about which healthy
individuals should and should not take aspirin.
It also underscores the need for a clinical trial
such as the planned Aspirin in Reducing Events
in the Elderly trial.
That study won’t yield results until about
2010. Until then, don’t assume that a daily
aspirin is right for you. Talk with your doctor
about your own benefit-risk balance sheet.
(This article was first printed in the September
2005 issue of the Harvard Heart Letter.
For more information or to order, please go
to www.health.harvard.edu/heart.)
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