The decades-old medical advice that an aspirin a day keeps a heart attack away is outdated. Yet about half of U.S. adults are unaware that the consensus has changed for healthy older people not at increased risk of heart disease, a new survey says, a misconception that could be putting them in danger.
Nearly one in two respondents (48%) wrongly said that the benefits of taking low-dose aspirin daily to lower one’s odds of having a stroke or heart attack outweigh the risks, according to a survey published Feb. 3 by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania. Another 39% of the more than 1,700 respondents were unsure; just 13% correctly indicated that the risks are now thought to prevail over the benefits.
Because aspirin is a blood thinner, it can help prevent clogged arteries, thereby lowering the risk of stroke or heart attack. However, the over-the-counter medication comes with an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and may not be the safest prevention strategy for everyone.
In 2019, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology announced these new guidelines surrounding daily low-dose aspirin (75-100 mg) and cardiovascular disease prevention:
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force took things a step further in 2022, discouraging all adults 60 and older from using aspirin as the primary prevention of heart disease. (Be sure to speak with your health care provider before starting or stopping an aspirin regimen.)
“Habits backed by conventional wisdom and the past advice of health care providers are hard to break,” APPC director Kathleen Hall Jamieson, PhD, said in a news release about the survey. “Knowing whether taking a low-dose aspirin daily is advisable or not for you is vital health information.”
Among survey respondents with no personal or family history of stroke or heart attack, adults 60 and older (57%) were most likely to say the benefits of aspirin outweigh its risks, while those 18 to 39 were least likely (24%). Similarly, the oldest respondents were least likely (7%) to correctly say the risks overshadow the benefits, while the youngest were most likely (29%).
Adults 60+ most likely to inadvisably take daily aspirin
Roughly 29 million U.S. adults 40 and older - without heart disease - preventatively take aspirin. About 6.6 million of them do so without a doctor’s recommendation. That’s according to a 2019 study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. While those estimates relied on data collected before the new guidelines had been announced, the new APPC survey suggests plenty of people not at a heightened risk of heart disease still rely on aspirin.
About one in five of all respondents (22%) reported taking aspirin for heart health at least monthly, including 13% who said they take it “basically every day.” Among those with no history of heart disease, however, older adults were most likely to report taking aspirin at least monthly:
About 15% of respondents who weren’t sure of their family history of heart disease reported taking aspirin at least monthly, including 9% who said they took it daily.
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