New Recommendations On Daily Aspirin

Occasionally taking an aspirin pill to deal with a headache or fever won’t do you any harm. However, you should be cautious if you’re taking it daily without prescription, as the latest findings published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology warn.

For decades, we thought that small doses of aspirin daily could prevent heart attacks, stroke, or other cardiovascular events. However, last year the American Heart Association has updated the guidelines on aspirin since many studies have shown that self-prescribing could cause serious side effects.

Potential risks 

After analyzing 67 reviews, researchers discovered:

• Taking a small daily dose of aspirin, no more than 325mg, as it parallels the size of a common tablet, lowered the risk of cardiovascular problems by 17%.
• It also gave a 34% higher risk of intracranial “in the skull” bleeding.
• A 47% higher risk of gastrointestinal bleeding.

Also, another research suggested that aspirin could help prevent cancer, but, again, the risks overshadow the possible benefits.

Ask your physician first

To avoid unintentional health damage that could be induced by taking aspirin every day without prescription, professionals recommend always consulting a doctor first. “It’s sort of back to the Hippocratic oath. Our job is first, not to cause harm. That’s what has contributed to an evolution in how we think about aspirin in primary prevention,” said Dr. Daniel Muñoz, an assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee.

Sources:

Study: Daily aspirin could be a killer for some, rather than a cure

Avoid daily aspirin unless your doctor prescribes it, new guidelines advise