A new study from the University of Michigan shows that many older adults in the United States are still taking aspirin every day to try to prevent heart disease, even though updated medical advice no longer recommends this for most people.
The researchers found that about one in six adults aged 50 to 80 take aspirin as a way to avoid heart problems, even if they have never had a heart attack or stroke.
This kind of aspirin use is known as “primary prevention” because it is used to try to stop disease before it starts.
Surprisingly, many of the people taking aspirin never talked to a doctor about it. In fact, nearly one in four people in the study started taking aspirin on their own, without a doctor’s advice.
And around 8% of those taking aspirin had never even mentioned it to any health care provider.
These numbers are worrying because aspirin is a powerful drug that can cause serious side effects, especially in older adults.
For many years, doctors used to recommend daily low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes. It was a common belief that aspirin helped thin the blood and reduce the chance of blood clots forming in the heart or brain. Because of this, many people began taking it regularly, even if they had no history of heart disease.
However, newer research has shown that while aspirin may help some people lower their risk of a first heart attack, it also raises the risk of bleeding, especially in the stomach and brain. This bleeding risk becomes more dangerous as people get older. For people without any history of heart disease, the bleeding risks may cancel out any possible benefits from taking aspirin.
Because of this, leading medical groups have changed their advice. The American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology now say that adults over 70 should not take aspirin to prevent heart problems unless they have already had a heart attack or stroke.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force also recommends that people over 60 should not start taking aspirin for this reason. They also suggest that people stop taking aspirin around age 75 unless their doctor believes they still need it.
Despite these updates, the new study shows that many older adults still believe that taking aspirin every day is good for their health. More than 80% of the aspirin users in the study thought aspirin helped their overall health, and nearly 30% even believed it could reduce the risk of dementia.
This shows that many people may not fully understand the risks of taking aspirin, especially without clear medical advice.
The study involved over 2,500 adults between the ages of 50 and 80. It was part of a national poll on healthy aging. The researchers looked at how many people used aspirin and whether they had talked to a doctor about it. They also asked people what they believed about aspirin’s effects on health.
The researchers found that people aged 50 to 69 were more than twice as likely to use aspirin for prevention compared to those aged 70 to 80. Women and people with higher incomes were also more likely to be using aspirin in this way.
In reviewing the study findings, it becomes clear that there is a major gap between current medical advice and what many people actually believe or do. Even though new guidelines clearly say that daily aspirin is not needed—and could even be harmful—for many older adults, a large number are still taking it without understanding the risks.
Some people may think of aspirin as a harmless pill because it is easy to buy and has been used for decades. But it is still a medicine that affects the body in powerful ways, and it should not be used without guidance from a health care professional.
The study shows how important it is for people to talk with their doctors about their personal risk for heart disease. Doctors can help explain whether aspirin is still a good idea or if it’s time to stop.
While aspirin may still be helpful for people who have already had heart problems, most healthy older adults without a history of heart disease may not need it—and could be putting themselves at risk for bleeding without knowing it.
In conclusion, this study sends a clear message: older adults should not assume that aspirin is always a good choice. They should speak with their doctors before starting or continuing daily aspirin. What once was standard advice is no longer true for everyone, and keeping up with the latest science can help people make safer decisions for their health.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies about a big cause of heart failure, and common blood test could advance heart failure treatment.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about a new way to repair human heart, and results showing drinking coffee may help reduce heart failure risk.
The research findings can be found in Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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