April 19, 2019 – Aspirin Again

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Anchor lead: What can you do to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease? Elizabeth Tracey reports

If you’re concerned about your heart health you may be taking an aspirin every day. Now, according to new guidelines released by the American College of Cardiology, you probably shouldn’t if you’ve never had a heart problem in the past. Erin Michos, one of the guideline’s authors and a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, explains.

Michos: In these guidelines aspirin got a bit of a de-emphasis. For healthy individuals, the risk of bleeding from aspirin may outweigh the benefits. Generally, at least healthy individuals, don’t need to take aspirin routinely for prevention of heart disease. Particularly those over the age of 70. Because of a study called the ESPRIT study where not only did aspirin not reduce heart attack rates in older adults but actually increased risk of bleeding and increased risk of death.  :31

Michos says your best course is to talk with your cardiologist about your own cardiovascular disease risk, and develop an approach for prevention together. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.