For Women, Daily Aspirin Does More Harm Than Good

Much has been written, yes, even on SportsGeezer, about the benefits of taking a low-dose of aspirin each day. Now comes some other news about aspirin, and it’s not so rosy. HealthDay reports on research conducted at Harvard Medical School that analyzed the results of a clinical trial of nearly 28,000 women who were largely healthy and relatively young — about 55 years old, on average at the start of the study, and were randomly assigned to take low-dose (100 mg) aspirin or placebo pills every other day. After 15 years, the researchers found, women who had taken aspirin saw a small decrease in their odds of cardiovascular trouble or colon cancer — but at the expense of an increase in the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. HealthDay reports that for every 133 women on aspirin for 15 years, one would suffer a major gastrointestinal bleeding episode, and one out of 29 women would have less serious problems: a stomach ulcer or slight bleeding in the digestive tract. By comparison, 709 women would have to take aspirin to prevent one case of colon cancer; and 371 would have to regularly take the drug to ward off one cardiovascular complication. The outcomes changed as women aged, and for those age 65 and up, 29 would need to take aspirin, long-term, to prevent one case of cardiovascular disease or cancer.