A federally-sponsored medical panel may soon recommend that people over 60 shouldn’t take aspirin to prevent a heart disease or stroke unless they’ve already had one, because the potential harm cancels out the benefits, CNN reported on Tuesday, October 12, 2021. (Read story here.)
Taking daily low-dose aspirin is a balancing act. It lessens heart attack or stroke risk “in some people,” but comes with a “serious risk” of bleeding that “increases with age,” the experts concluded.
The draft recommendation is in public comment phase, but is likely to find significant support in the medical community.
The American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association stopped recommending use of low-dose aspirin for prevention by lower-risk older adults in 2019, and studies published in a leading medical journal in 2018 suggested the regimen “provides no significant health benefits for healthy older adults” and “could cause them serious harm.”