Daily aspirin use could be more harm than good

Researchers from Warwick Medical School (WMS) have published a paper highlighting the side effects of daily usage of aspirin.

Reduced risk of colorectal cancer and heart disease have been promoted as the main benefits of taking aspirin daily, but experts have concluded that the risks outweigh the benefits and taking aspirin daily could, in fact, be harmful.

Side effects of taking aspirin included a 37 percent increase in gastrointestinal bleeding and an increase of 32-38 percent in the likelihood of a haemorrhagic stroke.

The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment published the report that used a new range of innovative methods including working with data from several systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials and a meta-analysis approach to quantify the potential health risks.

A previous study carried out by the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research revealed that neovascular age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness, could be a long-term effect of regular use of aspirin.

Aileen Clarke, professor of Public Health Research and director of Warwick Evidence at WMS, commented: “There is an incredibly fine balance between the possible benefits and the risks of the intervention.

“We need to be extremely careful about over-promoting aspirin intervention without having first fully understood these negative side effects.”

Amy Thompson, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, added: “Aspirin is extremely important for many heart patients, but for people free of heart disease the jury is still out as the risks are likely to outweigh the benefits.

“Further research is under way which will shed light on who else is likely to benefit the most from taking aspirin.”