Aspirin has long been cherished for being a wonder drug; curing pains, fever and inflammation. It has also been regarded as a good maintenance drug to ward off cancer and to protect onesself from heart diseases. And a daily dose of the said drug is known as a "healthy" habit, as it aids in blood flow too.
However, a recent study found that regular dosage of aspirin could actually do more harm than good, especially amongst middle-aged women. The study investigated 30,000 women over the age of 45 years old, and participants were randomly assigned to take either 100 mg of aspirin or placebos every other day, to determine whether it lowered their risk of heart disease, stroke, and cancer. The result showed that those taking aspirin were at a significantly higher risk of suffering from stomach bleeding, while the protective effect of aspirin was found to be marginal.
"Despite these findings, the role of aspirin in primary prevention remains unclear, as it is uncertain whether the combined benefits for cancer and cardiovascular disease outweigh the increase in major bleeding events," the researchers wrote. "As treatment effect may be determined by multiple patient characteristics, using models to predict treatment effect for individuals could help to select patients for aspirin treatment."
The researchers found that a blanket treatment "is ineffective or harmful in the majority of women with regard to the combined risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer and major gastrointestinal bleeding."
A shift in the results of the findings was observed though for women over 65 years of age. Women of the said age group are still likely to benefit from taking an aspirin a day, in spite of the risk of stomach bleeding found in the study.
Web MD reports that the American Cancer Society advises people against popping the drug solely to ward off cancer. Also, the American Heart Association recommends only that people at "high risk" of a heart attack consider taking aspirin.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently came out, speaking against using aspirin for preventing first-time heart attacks and strokes, citing the potential harms.
The research was published in the journal Heart.
