Routine aspirin use does more harm than good
Doctors urge us to pop an aspirin a day to help prevent heart disease – and more recently, cancer – but this casual use does more harm than good, a new study has discovered.The risk of stomach bleeding is too high, and only people with existing heart problems or history of stroke should continue taking the medication, say researchers from St George`s, University of London. The researchers analysed the results of nine trials, involving 102,621 people regularly taking aspirin. They discovered that the drug increased the amount of life-threatening stomach bleeding by 30 per cent, but did not reduce the levels of deaths from heart attack, stroke or cancer. Overall, they said, the risks outweighed any benefits. (Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, published online, January 9, 2012: doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.628 ).
