Should you take a daily aspirin?

So what is the "bottom line"?

Men and women react differently to aspirin. Men reduce their chance of getting a heart attack, and women reduce their chance of getting a stroke. However, there is no reduction in mortality! It seems that if you can be certain that you will not develop internal bleeding, taking aspirin might be a good idea... But who can be certain?

Some physicians recommend buffered or enteric-coated aspirin to prevent the bleeding. However, reference 3 warns that "enteric-coated or buffered preparations did not seem to reduce risk" (of gastrointestinal bleeding).

In summary, aspirin poses significant problems for many people, and does not improve mortality. We suggest that you make sure to avail yourself of our risk analysis tutorial before starting to take aspirin regularly.

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Last Modification - January 18, 2006