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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ask Dr. K: Aspirin can protect against heart disease

Anthony L. Komaroff Universal Uclick

DEAR DOCTOR K: What are the risks of taking a daily aspirin to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke?

DEAR READER: I didn’t have to do much homework on this one, because I take a daily aspirin and already know the answer.

It was front-page news in 1988 when colleagues of mine at Harvard Medical School reported the results of a randomized trial that found that a daily aspirin protected against heart disease. A simple, cheap, over-the-counter pill could protect against the No. 1 cause of premature death: heart disease (specifically, atherosclerosis of the arteries of the heart)? It seemed too good to be true.

In my opinion, it now is well established that daily aspirin protects people who have heart disease, or are at high risk of developing heart disease. It reduces their risk of future heart problems. If you have heart disease, or have had the most common kind of stroke (the kind caused by a blood clot), taking a low-dose (81-milligram) aspirin every day is probably a wise move.

But for the average adult (of either sex) who is not at high risk for heart disease, the value of daily aspirin is less clear. Every medicine that has benefits also has risks, which is what your question points out.

Most heart attacks and strokes happen when a clot blocks blood flow in a vessel that feeds the heart or brain. Aspirin helps prevent these clots from forming. That’s the benefit of a daily aspirin.

But any medicine that makes blood clots less likely to form is likely to increase the risk of bleeding. That’s surely true of aspirin, although less so with low-dose aspirin than with a daily full-strength aspirin pill (325 mg).

In addition to lowering the blood’s ability to clot, aspirin also irritates the stomach’s delicate lining. This can cause gastrointestinal bleeding. For people who are at high risk for GI bleeding – because of lifestyle practices such as heavy drinking, or diseases that increase the risk of GI bleeding – the risk may outweigh aspirin’s benefits.