Aspirin Should Not Be Taken By Healthy People Over 70

Aspirin should not be taken by healthy people over 70

The modest reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease from aspirin is outweighed by the increased risk of bleeding. This is evidenced by the report of Australian scientists presented recently at the congress of the European Society of Cardiology.

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Low-dose aspirin does not prolong disability-free survival in healthy people over 70, even those with the highest risk of cardiovascular disease. This is evidenced by a report by Australian scientists presented recently at the congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC 2019). As study author Professor Christopher Reid of Curtin University in Australia says, an increasing number of people are reaching the age of 70 years without overt cardiovascular disease (CVD), so better risk prediction methods for daily aspirin use are needed.

In the study, the researchers tried to determine how the effects of taking aspirin varied depending on the baseline level of risk of cardiovascular disease.

According to European standards for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, aspirin is not recommended for people without cardiovascular disease due to the increased risk of heavy bleeding. Subsequently, the same recommendations were confirmed for patients at moderate risk, as well as for patients with diabetes and people over 70 years of age.

The results of the study show that the modest reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease from aspirin is outweighed by the increased risk of bleeding. Australian researchers found that in people over 70 years of age without CVD, taking 100 mg of aspirin per day did not affect disability-free life - that is, without cognitive decline (dementia) or permanent physical disability.

The researchers calculated the probabilities of cardiovascular disease risk for 19,114 participants over 70. Overall rates of disability-free survival, death, major bleeding, and cardiovascular disease were investigated for each risk group. The researchers then compared the results of those who took aspirin and those who took a placebo.

Participants with the lowest likelihood of cardiovascular disease were not found to have any benefits of aspirin. This group also had the highest probability of bleeding. The participants with the highest CVD risk from aspirin had a significant reduction in CVD risk, but there was a marked risk of bleeding. However, the reduction in CVD risk did not significantly improve disability-free survival rates. With aspirin in this group, the results were only slightly different from those of the placebo group.

“Based on the results of our research, it can be argued that daily low doses of aspirin should not be recommended for healthy people over 70 years of age. Even those with the highest risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The analysis shows the need to improve methods for identifying the subgroup of people who can benefit from such preventive therapy,”says Professor Reid.