"The aspirin-a-day controversy erupted publicly in March when a 10-year study of nearly 30,000 adults ages 50 to 75 without known heart disease found that a daily aspirin didn’t offer any discernible protection. The group taking aspirin had cardiovascular disease at the same rate as those taking a placebo. Moreover, the study—published in the Journal of the American Medical Association—reported that taking a daily aspirin (100 mg) almost doubled the risk of dangerous internal bleeding.
"The panel also recommended that people over 80 not take aspirin at all because of bleeding risk.
"For the first time, the panel also broke down its advice by gender, recommending against daily aspirin use in women under 55 and men under 45.
"Is it right for you?
"So, should you take a daily aspirin or not? The answer is not quite as simple as doctors previously thought. Aspirin, they say, can still be a lifesaving drug, but it’s not for everyone.
"For reasons researchers don’t fully understand, aspirin seems to provide different benefits for men and women.
"In men, aspirin can prevent heart attacks but seems to have no effect on strokes, says Michael LeFevre, M.D., a member of the task force that wrote the new guidelines and a professor of family medicine at the University of Missouri. Conversely, he says, aspirin appears to help women avoid strokes but not heart attacks.
"The new recommendations suggest that aspirin will be most beneficial to:
- "men between 45 and 79 who have a high risk for heart attacks;
- "women between 55 and 79 who are at high risk for strokes."
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