Oct 20, 2018

Daily aspirin increases risk of a bleeding event

A new study (a) in the New England Journal of Medicine finds:

Aspirin use prevented serious vascular events in persons who had diabetes and no evident cardiovascular disease at trial entry, but it also caused major bleeding events. The absolute benefits were largely counterbalanced by the bleeding hazard.

The study has a large sample size & appears to be high quality (n = 15,480, randomized).

I haven't looked into this closely, but it looks like taking a daily aspirin to improve cardiovascular function probably isn't worth it.

I've been taking a baby aspirin as part of my daily routine; will stop this going forward.