Why Take An Aspirin A Day Articles | Remedy

By: Richard Bleuze

Why Take An Aspirin A Day

We have long known that aspirin reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes while increasing your chances of surviving them.  However, now we know that aspirin can  protect you in other ways, too.

Studies have also shown that aspirin can also reduce the risk of cancer of the colon, esophagus, stomach, rectum, and prostate.  In addition, recently it has also been shown that the humble aspirin does offer the tantalizing possibility that aspirin may help protect against Alzheimer's disease.  Thus, with all of these potential benefits, why are we not dumping aspirin in the water as we do with fluoride?

"Aspirin is the one drug I would take to a desert island with me," says Mark Fendrick, MD, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.  "It costs two cents a day and its benefits are amazing.  And if it had no side effects at all, we could give it to everybody."  But Dr. Fendrick worries that the ever-growing list of diseases and disorders that aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) seem to combat drowns out information about the risks of this "wonder" drug.

"When you take aspirin, the level of stomach protection is decreased and you're more likely to bleed.  Thus, people who take aspirin regularly -- even in a buffered or coated form -- will have roughly double the likelihood of having a perforated ulcer or bleeding in the GI tract," explains Fendrick.  "Relatively little attention is paid to this problem that kills more people in the U.S. each year than asthma or cervical cancer. What we need to do is focus less attention on finding more things that make aspirin look good, we have plenty of those, and think more about focusing on how to minimize risk,"  continues Dr. Fendrick.

So how do you decide whether or not a regular, preventive dose of aspirin is right for you?  And if aspirin is right for you, how do you lower the risk of side effects? There is no simple formula, unfortunately.  "When you're deciding whether someone should take blood pressure medication or diabetes medication, there are clear cutoffs. In the case of aspirin, the decision is multifactorial and requires a lot of thought," Dr.Fendrick tells WebMD.  In fact, WebMD on their site states: 

1.  Why take low-dose aspirin?  Good old aspirin, the common pain reliever that has been in our medicine cabinets for almost a century, also has a talent for prevention.  For people who have had a heart attack: Aspirin can help prevent a second heart attack.  For people who have had a stroke: Aspirin can help prevent a second stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA), which is often a warning sign of an impending stroke. For people who have never had a heart attack or stroke: Aspirin may reduce your chance of having a heart attack or a stroke if you have certain risk factors, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or smoking. If you have a higher risk for a heart attack or stroke, aspirin will have even more benefit for you.

2.  Who should take low-dose aspirin?  If you have had a heart attack or stroke, your doctor has probably already prescribed low-dose aspirin for you.  If you have never had a heart attack or stroke, talk to your doctor before you start taking aspirin every day.  Doctors use different guidelines to decide who should take daily aspirin. But no matter which guideline your doctor follows, he or she will look at your health and at your risk for a heart attack or stroke. Then you and your doctor will balance the benefits and the risks of taking a daily aspirin to see if a daily aspirin is right for you. If you have a higher risk for a heart attack or stroke, aspirin will have even more benefit for you. If the benefit of aspirin is more than the risk of side effects, you may want to take daily aspirin.  Daily aspirin isn't advised for people who have a low risk of heart attack or stroke.

3.  After surgery to prevent a stroke (carotid endarterectomy).
4.  By healthy men over age 45 when the benefits of aspirin to prevent a heart attack are greater than the risk of stomach bleeding from taking daily aspirin.
5.  By healthy women over age 55 when the benefits of aspirin to prevent a stroke are greater than the risk of stomach bleeding from taking daily aspirin

Those patients most in need of daily aspirin therapy are easy to identify. If you have a documented personal or family history of heart disease -- including heart attacks, stokes, or angina; if you have diabetes; or if you have multiple risks for the development of heart disease such as have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or are a smoker, you should most likely take a daily dose of aspirin (but always consult with your physician first). Although the optimal dose of aspirin in prevention of future heart disease is still unclear, doses of 75 milligrams, 100 milligrams, or 325 milligrams have been found to be equally effective. Studies have shown that daily or every-other-day aspirin therapy can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by 28% in people who have never had a heart attack or stroke, but who were considered high-risk individuals.

It is also pretty easy to identify those individuals who, in all probability, do not need to take aspirin on a daily basis, says Dr. Fendrick.  Healthy people in their 20s and 30s, for example, with no cardiac risk factors and no major risk factors for developing the other diseases aspirin can prevent, such as certain cancers, should consider the risks of aspirin therapy to outweigh the benefits.

However, Dr. Fendrick goes on to say that there is a large group of people that fall into the middle category -- the "probably-should-take" group.  For these people, individuals with a strong family history of colon cancer, for example, or dementia, balancing aspirin's potential benefits against its well-documented risks can be a very complicated equation. "The benefits of aspirin for preventing colon cancer, dementia, and heart attacks need to be carefully weighed by a medical professional against the potential for serious complications," says Dr. Fendrick.

The FDA  also provides a fact sheet on deciding whether or not daily aspirin therapy is right for you (it's specific to heart disease) on its web site.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!