Do not take aspirin for prevention

Aspirin no longer needs to be prescribed for the prevention of heart disease and cancer

Svetlana Maslova, Hi-tech+

The benefits of taking aspirin no longer outweigh the potential harm of the drug to health, scientists said. Given the availability of new drugs and diagnostic methods, aspirin should be prescribed under the supervision of a doctor, scientists urge.

Previous studies conducted before 2000 point to these benefits, however, the widespread use of statins that lower cholesterol levels in the blood and affordable screening for colorectal cancer are changing established beliefs, according to a press release from the University of Georgia.

In the new review, scientists compared research data from 1978 to 2002 with data after 2005 (Moriarty, Ebell, A comparison of contemporary versus older studies of aspirin for primary prevention // Family Practice 2019).

Participants in recent studies more closely resembled the modern population, the scientists stressed: they were older, smoked less often and more often had type 2 diabetes.

Observations have not confirmed two important benefits of taking aspirin: reducing the risk of mortality from cancer and heart attacks. For every 1,000 patients who took aspirin for five years, there were four times fewer cases of cardiovascular events, but seven times more cases of strokes and heart attacks.

At the same time, no positive effect on the mortality rate from all causes was recorded.

"The benefits of aspirin no longer outweigh the potential harms. The drug should no longer be recommended for the primary prevention of stroke and heart disease for patients who do not have a history of these cardiovascular events yet," the scientists concluded.

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