Should You Be Taking Aspirin Daily

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Should Aspirin Be Taken Daily

Should Aspirin be taken daily? Several researches recommend that this medicine tends to protect the victim from heart attacks, strokes, various types of cancer as well as pre-term birth and preeclampsia which are a condition in pregnancy with high blood pressure together with damage to organs like the kidneys. In a recent study it was found that salicylic acid, the active ingredient present in aspirin, tends to block a protein which can enter brain cells, triggering the process leading to death as seen in conditions of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

However it is too early to add protection to such type of brain condition to the pros, taking into consideration of taking aspirin or not according to PhD researcher on the new study, Daniel Klessig, and a professor at the Boyce Thompson Institute and Cornell University.

Klessig states that while the results from their study seems to be exciting, promising great promise as a probable treatment for neuro degenerative disease, they would need to be followed by more comprehensive studies, inclusive of mouse model work as well as human clinical studies. He adds that research would likely lead to compounds derived from salicylic acid which would be more effective as well as safer than aspirin.

Troublesome Quality of Aspirin

The centre of aspirin debate had always been its safety even for heart disease. The most troublesome quality of aspirin is that it could cause bleeding in the upper digestive tract especially the stomach and in the brain. The risk tends to increase with age, together with having a history of bleeding. Executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Deepak Bhat, MD MPH had commented that it is important to discuss the risks as well as benefits of aspirin therapy with a physician.

An independent panel of health care professionals, The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force, had added a twist to the debate on whether healthy individuals should take aspirin. A draft with new guidelines had been posted in September regarding the drug’s use by people of 50 and above. These guidelines are the first from a main organization recommending aspirin to protect from cancer and in this case it is colorectal cancer together with heart disease.

Primary/Secondary Prevention

This is only in the case of those between the age of 50 and 69 and who have a 10% or higher risk of heart attacks and strokes for a period of ten years and are not at an added risk of bleeding. However the task force has not recommended that anyone should take aspirin mainly to lower the risk of colorectal cancer.

Andrew Chan, MD, MPH, gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital has stated that `for the patients who tend to take aspirin or are speculating on taking aspirin for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, it is easy to inform that they could gain an additional benefit of protection against colorectal cancer and starting to think more seriously about aspirin to prevent cancer.

People without any history of heart disease seems to be the main focus of the debate regarding the wisdom of taking aspirin to stay healthy, known as primary prevention. Though the research had established that taking of the drug could lessen the risk of another heart attack or stroke with people who had already one attack, known as secondary prevention, indication that it is worth taking it in order to protect from a first heart attack or stroke, is not clear.