Should seniors take aspirin to prevent heart attacks?
Aspirin, cardiovascular events, and major bleeding in older adults: extended follow-up of the ASPREE trial
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
This study tested if taking a daily baby aspirin helps healthy older people avoid heart attacks or strokes.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
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Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
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Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
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Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
This study tested if taking a daily baby aspirin helps healthy older people avoid heart attacks or strokes.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 574 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
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Claims (5)
For healthy adults aged 70 or older without heart disease, taking a low dose of aspirin every day does not reduce the risk of serious heart problems over time, even though there was a small temporary decrease in events while people were actively taking it.
Among healthy adults aged 70 or older, those who previously took daily aspirin in a clinical trial had a higher rate of serious heart problems in the years after the trial ended, compared to those who took a placebo. This difference may be due to differences in who continued taking aspirin or how the body responded after stopping, rather than aspirin directly causing the events.
Daily aspirin use in healthy older adults increases the risk of serious bleeding while being taken, but this increased risk does not continue after stopping aspirin; bleeding rates after stopping are similar to those in people who never took aspirin.
In healthy adults aged 70 or older, taking 100 mg of aspirin daily for about 8 years is associated with a 24% higher risk of serious bleeding compared to not taking aspirin, and this increased bleeding risk is greater than any heart protection the aspirin might provide.
In healthy older adults, taking aspirin daily does not lower the overall risk of dying over time, because any small benefit from preventing heart problems is canceled out by a higher risk of bleeding and other side effects.