The Study
Effect of Aspirin on Disability-free Survival in the Healthy Elderly
This study is like a super-fair test where half the people got aspirin and half got sugar pills, and no one knew who got what. It found that aspirin didn't help people stay healthier longer, but it did cause more bleeding. We can say aspirin caused the bleeding because the test was so fair.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists tested if taking a tiny aspirin every day helps older people live longer without getting sick, confused, or unable to do daily tasks.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 588 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The difference in health outcomes was tiny and not meaningful — but the bleeding risk was real and significant, meaning more people had dangerous internal bleeding.
- 2Aspirin didn't help: 21.5 out of 1,000 people on aspirin had death, dementia, or disability vs.
- 321.2 on placebo.
- 4But aspirin caused more bleeding: 3.8% had major bleeding vs.
- 52.8% on placebo.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The New England journal of medicine
Year
2018
Authors
J. McNeil, R. Woods, M. Nelson, C. Reid, B. Kirpach, R. Wolfe, E. Storey, R. Shah, J. Lockery, A. Tonkin, A. Newman, J. Williamson, K. Margolis, M. Ernst, W. Abhayaratna, N. Stocks, S. Fitzgerald, S. Orchard, R. Trevaks, L. Beilin, G. Donnan, P. Gibbs, C. Johnston, J. Ryan, B. Radziszewska, R. Grimm, A. Murray
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.