Aspirin use We all want to avoid getting a heart attack
or a stroke.
For a long time we've been taught that taking an Aspirin a day is a way to do that.
But is that true? and is more importantly is it true for YOU?
Keep watching to learn if you would benefit from taking an aspirin a day.
Hi everybody, I'm Dr. Erik Richardson a board certified Family Practice physician.
I'd like to welcome you to FamilyMed, a channel that focuses giving you practical and accurate
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Welcome to our latest installment of "I have a question".
In this series we tackle common questions that you have about day to day medical issues
that you may be facing.
The question that we are going to be answering today is one that I get a lot.
And that is, Do I need to be on an aspirin?
We all see TV advertisements talking about taking aspirin for the health of your heart.
It's something that I have patients ask me about all the time, and a lot of them end
up starting it on their own believing that it's the best thing to help them prevent a
heart attack or stroke.
Today we're going to go over what some of the latest recommendations and studies have
shown to help you make a better decision with your doctor.
Now, we all worry about heart attacks and strokes and its not without reason.
Each year, in the United states, close to 800,000 people a year have a stroke and over
140,000 of them are fatal.
There As far as our hearts, over 600,000 people die a year from some sort of heart disease
while over 800,000 people a year have a heart attack.
These are staggering numbers and we need to do something about it.
But is Aspirin the right thing to do that?
For the past couple decades we thought the answer was pretty much yes for anybody over
the age of at least 50, but more recent studies have shed some light on this answer that really
should be discussed with your doctor in order to know if this is right for you.
We know that there are certain patients that undeniably benefit from being on an Aspirin.
These are going to be those who have had a prior heart attack.
The studies have been quite clear that if you are in this position, you should be following
your doctors advice that they have given you to be taking your aspirin.
As far as strokes, that gets a little more complicated and beyond the scope that we are
talking about here.
The fact of the matter is that if you have had a prior event you should be talking to
your doctor about taking aspirin and following their advice.
Where we have found that our prior assumptions are not quite as correct are in those who
are taking it to prevent their first attack.
We call this "primary prevention".
In the past if you were over the age of 50 it was felt to be safe and effective to take
an aspirin a day but some very recent large studies have cast a lot of doubt on this and
are making us rethink how worth it is.
There have been three different large studies that have come out recently that have looked
at these questions.
These studies have a combined population of close to 50 thousand people looking at adults
over 55 without diabetes, adults over 40 with diabetes and adults over the age of 70.
The results of these studies were very interesting.
It showed that in those over the age of 55 without diabetes had a slight benefit by taking
aspirin.
However, they also showed a significant increase in the amount of bleeding that they had.
When they weighed the two together it was felt that the risk took away the benefit that
was found.
Both studies in diabetics over the age of 40 as well as adults over the age of 70 they
found the same.
In each of these groups there was a moderate decreased risk of heart problems however there
was in increase risk of bleeding that was felt to outweigh any benefit that was had
from taking aspirin.
So what are we supposed to take from this?
We'll simply, I'm going to recommend that you don't take aspirin without having a good
discussion with your own doctor about the pros and cons and without taking a good look
at your risk of heart disease to see if it will be a benefit for you.
Aspirin is not a benign medication and shouldn't be taken on a regular basis unless you are
at a significant risk of a heart attack or stroke so get into your doctor and have that
discussion so you don't end up being one of the statistics that we talked about at the
beginning.
So there's your answer to whether or not you should be on an Aspirin.
Quite simply, talk to your doctor about what your risks are before starting on one.
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But until next time, this is FamilyMed with Dr. Richardson and remember to take care of
your body because it's the only one you have.