UTMB was a participating clinical location in a national study that helped researchers learn that low-dose daily aspirin does not provide significant protection against stroke resulting from blood clots and may increase the risk of bleeding in the brain or skull after head trauma. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, provide new evidence countering past conventional wisdom recommending a daily low-dose or baby aspirin for healthy older adults.
In this study, an international team led by Australian researchers analyzed data from the
ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial. ASPREE includes about 19,000 healthy older adult volunteers from Australia and the United States who were randomly assigned to take a daily 100 milligram aspirin or a placebo pill and were monitored for approximately five years.
The research team found no statistically significant difference in stroke incidence between those who took aspirin and those on the placebo. While a relatively small overall number of brain bleeds occurred in participants during the study period — 187 total, with 108 from the aspirin group and 79 from the placebo one — bleeding events were 38% higher among participants who were taking aspirin daily, regardless of their gender, age, or cardiovascular risk. Bleeding into the brain or onto its surface are common and serious results of fall-related head injuries in older adults. In this study, nearly half of these bleeding events were due to trauma.
Read more in this article from the NIH, Daily low-dose aspirin has little impact on stroke risk and spikes risk of brain bleeding from falls.
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