Daily Aspirin Use Linked to Brain Bleeding in Healthy Adults: Study

Using a daily low-dose aspirin to stave off heart attacks could increase a healthy person's risk of brain bleeding, a study suggests.

Australian researchers found healthy adults over 70 who took the daily pill were at a 38% increased risk of suffering intracranial bleeding than their peers. They also found the statins did not reduce ischemic stroke risk.

“Low-dose aspirin should not be prescribed for primary prevention in healthy older adults,” researchers concluded. 

More than 40 million Americans use a daily statin, making it the most prescribed medication in the United States.

The daily pills are used by patients with high levels of harmful cholesterol to bring it down to normal levels. High cholesterol leaves a person at an increased risk of suffering from heart disease, a heart attack or stroke.

However, the drugs are known to come with severe side-effects, which are being further explored by doctors around the world.

The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, gathered data from 19,000 participants. Half of the study population received a daily statin, with other receiving a placebo.

The study used Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) data among people in the US and Australia and followed participants for an average of 4.7 years.  Nobody who previously had a heart attack or stroke was included in the study. 

The study validates a 2021 recommendation from a US panel of experts that warned against daily aspirin use to prevent the first heart attack or stroke among patients with a high risk of contracting heart disease.

The authors of the study wrote that "Clinicians should be aware that among older individuals prone to falls, risks of intracerebral bleeding with aspirin may be greater than was apparent in this trial.”

The study’s publication follows the results of a different study using ASPREE data published last month that said the use of low-dose aspirin to prevent heart disease might increase the risks of anemia up to 23.5%.