A healthy lifestyle replacing aspirin - what is the danger of an analgesic?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Millions of middle-aged and older people around the world use aspirin every day, not only as the easiest and most affordable pain reliever, but also to reduce the likelihood of blood clots forming in blood vessels by lowering blood viscosity.

In the latter case, doctors have prescribed the daily use of this drug for people who have already had heart attacks or strokes, or who have been victims of other heart diseases. However, a new study by scientists has shown that aspirin for the prevention of cardiovascular disease is taken by a huge number of people who do not have heart problems.

In their work, scientists at Harvard Medical Center Beth-Israel used data from a 2017 national survey. From the survey, it became clear that about 29 million people aged 40 and over take aspirin daily despite the absence of cardiovascular disease. About 6.6 million of them prescribed the drug for themselves without first consulting a doctor and never received such a recommendation. Nearly 10 million people over 70 who do not have heart disease also take aspirin daily for prevention. All these people, the authors of the study note, are at risk.

Why is aspirin dangerous?

Scientists draw their conclusions about the dangers of aspirin on the basis of numerous extensive studies conducted in recent years. All of them showed that taking aspirin as a prophylactic agent for cardiovascular diseases brings little benefit, but at the same time significantly increases the risk to a person's life. Especially when it comes to the elderly. The drug has a number of serious side effects that override all its advantages.

The most important side effect is that taking aspirin daily can increase your risk of gastrointestinal bleeding because it interacts with platelets, the blood cells that help blood clot. In addition, regular use of aspirin destroys the lining of the gastrointestinal tract, increasing the risk of developing duodenal ulcers. By the way, experts from the Beth-Israel Medical Center note that the presence of peptic ulcer disease in some of the respondents did not become a reason for people to refuse the drug or at least reduce its daily dosage.

Another study found that taking even low doses of aspirin was associated with an increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage in healthy people without cardiovascular disease.

In another study, scientists tried to find an answer to the question: does the drug reduce the risk of a first heart attack or stroke in healthy older people. The participants were divided into two groups. People in the first group took a placebo daily (a substance without any medicinal properties), people in the second group - 100 mg of aspirin. As a result, the mortality rate and the incidence of dementia were higher in the aspirin group than in the placebo group. The results showed that not only can the drug not prolong life or prevent a first heart attack, but, conversely, may increase the risk for older patients.

When can I take aspirin?

Recent findings have prompted the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology to change their guidelines for using aspirin as a preventive measure for heart disease.

They now point out that people over 70 who do not have heart disease (or are younger, but have an increased risk of bleeding) should avoid taking aspirin daily for prevention.

At the same time, the new recommendations indicate that in some cases, taking aspirin is possible. We are talking about people from 40 to 70 years old who do not yet have heart disease, but there is a fairly high risk of developing them. American cardiologists say that in this case, a person can take from 75 to 100 mg of aspirin per day. But in any case, no self-medication. Taking the drug, say cardiologists, is possible only after consulting your doctor.

How to avoid heart problems

Cardiologists call a healthy lifestyle - proper nutrition and giving up bad habits - the most effective way to prevent cardiovascular diseases.

Regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, and a diet high in vegetables, low in sugar and trans fats will have a much more reliable effect in significantly reducing the risk of heart problems.