American heart disease experts are the latest to question the long-accepted wisdom of taking a daily aspirin to ward off heart attacks.
A new report from the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association says the drug “should be used infrequently” for the purpose of preventing cardiovascular disease “because of lack of net benefit” for most adults.
The recommendation is labelled as one of the key messages in the report, which provides clinical practice guidelines for health-care professionals across the U.S.
Prior U.S. guidelines had recommended a daily low dose of aspirin -- between 75 and 100 milligrams -- as a primary method of cardiovascular disease prevention for people with known risk factors.
The new guideline walks that back, saying that taking daily aspirin for this purpose would do more harm than good in all adults over the age of 70 and all adults who have an increased risk of bleeding.
Daily aspirin use is listed as possibly providing a weak benefit to adults known to be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, but specifically not at greater risk of bleeding. While reducing the chance that blood will clot in a patient’s artery, aspirin also increases the odds that the patient will bleed.
Although aspirin use has been touted as a preventative measure against heart disease for decades, recent research has cast doubt on whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, which can include increased bleeding.
One study published last fall showed that positive cardiovascular outcomes from an aspirin regimen were “equally balanced by major bleeding events.” It estimated that if 10,000 people took low-dose aspirin every day for a year, four fewer would suffer a heart attack or stroke than if none of the 10,000 had taken aspirin, while seven more would suffer serious bleeding in their skull, brain, stomach or gut. Another recent study found a similar increase in bleeding cases with no corresponding decrease in cardiovascular emergencies.
Aspirin producer Bayer responded to the new recommendation Sunday, seemingly agreeing with the guidance.
“The updated guidelines do not change the recommendation of aspirin in secondary prevention, and demonstrate that there is still a role for aspirin in primary prevention,” the company said in a statement.
Nobody should start, stop or change an aspirin-taking routine without talking to a doctor first, the company said.
Other recommendations in the report aimed at minimizing the risk of cardiovascular disease include engaging in regular physical activity, avoiding tobacco and focusing diets on “vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, lean vegetable or animal protein, and fish.”
