Why Daily Aspirin May Be Worth The Risk Of Bleeding

Taking a low-dose aspirin every day to reduce the risk of heart disease or cancer may be worth the increased risk of stomach bleeding, an analysis shows.

The findings show that stomach bleeds caused by aspirin are considerably less serious than the spontaneous bleeds that can occur in people not taking the drug.

Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the extensive review of literature on aspirin and meta-analysis of randomized trials reveals that while regular use of the drug increases the risk of stomach bleeds by about a half, there is no valid evidence that any of these bleeds are fatal.

“Although many people use aspirin daily to reduce the risk of health problems such as cancer and heart disease, the wider use of the drug is severely limited because of the side effect of bleeding from the stomach,” says Peter Elwood, a professor at Cardiff University’s School of Medicine.

“With our study showing that there is no increased risk of death from stomach bleeding in people who take regular aspirin, we hope there will be better confidence in the drug and wider use of it by older people, leading to important reductions in deaths and disablement from heart disease and cancer across the community.”

Heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death and disability across the world, and research has shown that a small daily dose of aspirin can reduce the occurrence of both diseases by around 20-30 percent.

Recent research has also shown that low-doses of aspirin given to patients with cancer, alongside chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy, is an effective additional treatment, reducing the deaths of patients with bowel, and possibly other cancers, by a further 15 percent.

Source: Cardiff University

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