A regimen of low-dose aspirin offers healthy, older people no benefit in staving off cardiovascular disease, dementia or disability and increases their risk of bleeding in the digestive tract and brain, according to a large study released Sunday. Millions of healthy people take small doses of aspirin regularly in the belief that the drug will prevent heart attacks and strokes. But it had been unclear whether healthy people older than 70 would derive the same benefit. The researchers did not state whether healthy older people who have been taking aspirin should stop. But the rate of bleeding was significantly higher in the aspirin group: 3.8 percent vs. 2.8 percent.

Source: Washington Post September 16, 2018 21:35 UTC