Asprin in elderly could be a cause of stoke and internal bleeding. Australians were the pioneers to warn the use of the drug without physician’s advice.

Team@CMHF

Recent headlines that ‘a daily dose of aspirin may do more harm than good’ have been described by one of Australia’s foremost experts on the drug as crude, sensational and likely to cause undue concern among Australians.

The authors of a recent UK study,, have been widely reported around the world, warning that guidelines in the US and Britain on using the drug should be revised, “after they found the risk of internal bleeding outweighed potential benefits”.

One such article, published in UK newspaper The Telegraph, reports that “experts had [previously] called for everyone over the age of 45 to consider taking a daily dose of aspirin because it can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke and prevent some cancers”.

While it is not clear how many ostensibly healthy middle aged and older Australians have received or follow such advice, hoping to prevent heart attacks and strokes, guidelines in this country do not recommend aspirin for everyone over a particular age.

In Australia “Everyone’s actually been saying you should do it on a risk-versus-benefit basis. It’s best to work out the absolute risk of heart attack or stroke versus the likelihood of having internal bleeding.

Professor Kausik Ray, the lead author of the UK study, is also quoted in the Telegraph article and elsewhere saying the benefits of aspirin for people known to have had heart attacks or strokes is “indisputable”.  “We urge people with these conditions not to discontinue their medication unless advised to do so by their physicians for valid reasons,” Prof Ray added.

Professor Nelson has been studying the effects of the drug for a number of years through the ASPREE study. The aim of the ASPREE study, he said, was to weigh up the risks and benefits of taking aspirin preventively, specifically for older people, who were at higher risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Aspirin is useful in preventing the 85 per cent of strokes that involve blood clotting, according to Professor Nelson, but exacerbates the bleeding associated with the other 15 per cent of strokes, and any internal bleeding from other causes.

He added that the ASPREE study also hoped to confirm evidence that the so-called ‘wonder drug’ could help prevent or delay the onset of cognitive decline, dementia and some kinds of cancer.

“Dementia is a common thing that puts people into nursing homes so if you could keep someone home for a few years, that would be a fantastic public health outcome.

“There’s a paucity of studies of the elderly and they need to be done because the balance of benefit versus harm is unknown. There are a lot of reasons why the elderly shouldn’t just be looked upon as middle aged individuals who are older, much like we wouldn’t assume medication used in children is the same as when used in adults.”

Ref: http://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/2012/01/12/article/Australia-way-ahead-on-aspirin-warning/NDBGWDGUEV.html