Elderly might not benefit from regular aspirin - Yahoo! News

A good reminder that there are dangers of too much aspirin!

Elderly might not benefit from regular aspirin - Yahoo! News:

"To further investigate the matter, the research team constructed a mathematical model based on clinical trial data and demographics to compare risks and benefits of low-dose aspirin in a theoretical cohort of 10,000 men and 10,000 women ages 70 to 74. The virtual participants were 'followed' until they died or reached 100 years of age.

The model suggested that, for men, routine low-dose aspirin therapy would prevent 389 heart attacks and 19 strokes; for women, the numbers were 321 heart attacks and 35 strokes.

However, this benefit was offset by an extra 499 episodes of gastric bleeding in men and 572 in women. On top of that, the team calculated that 76 more men and 54 more women would suffer bleeding in the brain.

'On balance, there was no indication of a net benefit or harm in terms of deaths, years of life saved, or years of healthy life saved,' the researchers report."

The study is by Dr. Mark R. Nelson.