Aspirin: Panacea or Piffle?

Aspirin is once again in the headlines, prompted by New England Journal of Medicine reports suggesting that people aged 70 years and older obtain no benefit and perhaps experience harm in the form of increased bleeding and increased death from cancer on low-dose aspirin. This adds to the decades-long debate on whether aspirin is beneficial as a preventive measure against cardiovascular events such as heart attack in which a blood clot forms on top of inflamed atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries. Unlike many other studies that are observational and therefore virtually useless, these studies are prospective and randomized against placebo, studies that bear greater weight with conclusions that are more certain to establish cause-effect relationships. There is no question that people who have stents implanted in their coronary arteries, have bypass grafts, or have suffered a heart attack experience reduced risk of recurrent coronary events with aspirin, so-called “secondary prevention.” The tougher question comes in whether aspirin provides any benefits in primary prevention, i.e., lower-risk people without stents, bypass grafts, or prior heart attack. The three reports originated with the ASPREE trial of 19,000 Australians and Americans age 70 years or older, randomized to aspirin 100 mg per day vs. placebo: no difference in cardiovascular death or cardiovascular events (fatal heart attack, non-fatal heart attack, stroke) over nearly 5 years, with about a...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: News & Updates aspirin coronary grain-free heart attack heart disease Inflammation platelets Weight Loss wheat belly Source Type: blogs