Seniors who regularly take regular aspirin to prevent strokes could instead actually be increasing their risk. In healthy older people, aspirin may very well be doing more harm than good.
Researchers looked at data on intracerebral hemorrhagic strokes that occurred between 1981 and 1985, and between 2002 and 2006.
The number of strokes caused by high blood pressure fell by 65 percent over this period. But in people over 75, so many more strokes occurred among patients taking blood-thinning drugs such as aspirin and warfarin, known as antithrombotics, that the overall rate of strokes remained the same.
Between the two periods studied, the proportion of stroke patients on antithrombotic drugs increased from 4 percent to 40 percent. The number of strokes associated with these drugs increased by a factor of seven.
The increasing use of these drugs means that they may soon overtake high blood pressure as the leading cause of intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke in those over 75.
The Lancet Neurology May 1, 2007 (Registration Required)
BBC News May 1, 2007
Many years ago I fell prey to the flawed recommendation that taking one-fifth of a baby aspirin three times a week was a wise preventive approach for cardiovascular problems.
But then I read the British and American research, and finally realized what I should have understood all along -- this was simply a flawed approach that in no way, shape or form was addressing the underlying cause of the problem. The definitive article was published in the British Medical Journal over five years ago yet many "experts" continue to recommend aspirin.
Just doesn't make any sense at all.
Healthy older seniors who still take a low dose of aspirin every day to ease cardiovascular concerns should know that the widely accepted "safe" amount may not be safe at all. It could very well cause, rather than prevent, an intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke.
But fortunately, you don't have to rely on drugs to prevent heart disease and strokes, even if those drugs happen to be dirt cheap.
There are many other safer methods that are effective at treating cardiovascular disease without the dangers, and which are even cheaper -- like eating the right foods based on your body's unique nutritional type, and rebalancing your intake of omage-3 fats by taking a high-quality fish oil or krill oil daily.
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