A new study out of the University of Alberta suggests many healthy people are taking aspirin daily when they don’t need to be, and the risks of doing so may outweigh the benefits.
The study examined nearly 900 people over the age of 50, who were taking aspirin to prevent heart attack or stroke.
“Some people who may have never had an event feel the aspirin is a benefit for them but they’re probably unlikely to have an event in the first place,” said Mike Kolber, associate professor in Family Medicine at the University of Alberta.
The study found more than 40 per cent of those surveyed did not suffer from heart disease but were popping an aspirin pill each day to prevent heart attack or stroke.
That is backwards, researchers say.
We found that more patients were taking it for primary cardiovascular prevention means they have not had a heart attack or stroke, than secondary cardiovascular prevention meaning they have had a heart attack or stroke," Kolber said.
"We also found that of the patients who had heart disease, just over 60 per cent were taking aspirin so we found that maybe the patients who should be on aspirin were not taking aspirin"
Kolber says based on the U of A study, an estimated 4 million people across Canada could be taking aspirin for no reason, with little benefit to their health.
“There are probably a lot of patients who are low-risk of having a future cardiovascular event who are actually taking aspirin therapy so it does have some wide public health implications,” he said.
Kolber says there was a misconception in the past that aspirin therapy would decrease risk of heart attacks, but that’s not necessarily the case.
“Now that we’ve found putting all the studies together that probably for those who have not had heart disease yet, there’s a slight decrease risk of a first heart attack for a male but no differences in mortality or cardiovascular mortality,” he said.
One of the possible side effects of taking too much aspirin is gastro-intestinal bleeding.
Researchers hope results from the study will lead to more discussion on aspirin therapy among doctors and patients.
“If you've had a previous cardiovascular event, so heart attack or stroke, we would encourage you to continue to take your aspirin therapy,” Kolber said.
“If you haven't, we would encourage you to discuss with your health care provider what your future cardiovascular risk is and have that discussion with your health care provider, your pharmacist, your physician, about whether it would be appropriate for you to be on aspirin therapy and whether the potential risks may balance out the potential benefits.”
