A new study has found that the risk of serious bleeding is similar when taking the blood thinners apixaban and dabigatran compared to aspirin.
However, the blood thinner rivaroxaban has a higher risk of major bleeding and brain hemorrhage than aspirin.
The findings were published on Feb. 11 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The research was led by Dr. Michael Ke Wang and his team at McMaster University in Canada. They analyzed data from nine clinical trials involving 26,224 participants.
The goal was to compare the risk of major bleeding and brain hemorrhages between different blood thinners (also called non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants, or NOACs) and aspirin.
Key findings
- Apixaban: Similar risk of major bleeding and brain hemorrhage as aspirin.
- Dabigatran: Also had similar risks compared to aspirin.
- Rivaroxaban: Higher risk of major bleeding and brain hemorrhage than aspirin.
The study found that rivaroxaban had the highest risk of bleeding among these blood thinners. The researchers noted that their findings were consistent with previous studies.
These results suggest that apixaban and dabigatran may be safer choices for extended anticoagulation (long-term blood thinning therapy) compared to rivaroxaban, especially for patients concerned about bleeding risks. However, the certainty of the evidence varied, meaning more research may be needed.
Doctors and patients should discuss the risks and benefits of different blood thinners to make the best treatment choice.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and Vitamin K2 could help reduce heart disease risk.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how to remove plaques that cause heart attacks, and results showing a new way to prevent heart attacks, strokes.
The research findings can be found in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
