Aspirin Carries Significant Side-Effects, Researchers Say

A new review of studies shows that daily use of aspirin by healthy individuals might do more harm than good. Researchers say that healthcare practitioners must learn about the drug's side effects before over-promoting the medication.

Aspirin- the anti-inflammatory drug- has been around for over a century now and has relieved headache, fever and minor aches in millions of people. Recent studies have shown that daily use of low-dose Aspirin can reduce risk of a cardiac event by 30 percent in people with a history of heart disease. Other research has shown that its regular use could up eye disease risk.

In the present study, UK researchers found that healthy people who regularly used aspirin had 37 per cent increased risk of internal bleeding while the risk of hemorrhagic stroke was about 38 percent, The Telegraph reported.

"Too many healthy people think that aspirin will prevent heart attacks and cancer," said Dr. Peter Sandercock of the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, according to Reuters. Sandercock wasn't part of the current research.

For the study, researchers at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, analyzed data from 27 studies conducted between 2008 and 2012. Nine of these studies were randomized controlled trials, which are considered to be gold-standard in medicine.

"There is a plethora of evidence in this area but nobody has drawn together the advantages and disadvantages of aspirin in a systematic way," Paul Sutcliffe of Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick in England, told Reuters.

The study team found that daily asprin use averted 33 to 46 deaths per 10,000 people during a ten-year period. However, the drug was also associated with major side-effects. During the same period, aspirin use was linked with 46 to 49 bleeding events along with nearly 117 gastrointestinal bleeds, Medical Daily reported.

Researchers said that people might be overestimating the benefits of the drug and not looking at its side-effects. Sutcliffe added that people shouldn't stop taking aspirin without consulting their physician first.

The latest meta-analysis hasn't impressed everyone.                               

"The study is just another meta-analysis of published overall trial results and contains no new data," said Dr. Peter Rothwell, a clinical neurologist at the University of Oxford in England, according to Reuters. Rothwell wasn't part of current study.

The study is published in the journal PLOS One.