Stomach bleeds caused by aspirin are
considerably less serious than the spontaneous bleeds that can occur in people
not taking the drug, concludes a study led by Cardiff University.
Published in the journal Public
Library of Science, the extensive study of literature on aspirin reveals
that while regular use of the drug increases the risk of stomach bleeds by
about a half, there is no valid evidence that any of these bleeds are fatal.
Professor Peter Elwood from Cardiff
University's School of Medicine said: "Although many people use aspirin
daily to reduce the risk of health problems such as cancer and heart disease,
the wider use of the drug is severely limited because of the side effect of
bleeding from the stomach. With our study showing that there is no increased
risk of death from stomach bleeding in people who take regular aspirin, we hope
there will be better confidence in the drug and wider use of it by older
people, leading to important reductions in deaths and disablement from heart
disease and cancer across the community."
Heart disease and cancer are the
leading causes of death and disability across the world, and research has shown
that a small daily dose of aspirin can reduce the occurrence of both diseases
by around 20-30%.
Recent research has also shown that
low-doses of aspirin given to patients with cancer, alongside chemotherapy
and/or radiotherapy, is an effective additional treatment, reducing the deaths
of patients with bowel, and possibly other cancers, by a further 15%.
The study 'Systematic review and
meta-analysis of randomised trials to ascertain fatal gastrointestinal bleeding
events attributable to preventive low-dose aspirin: No evidence of increased
risk' can be found in Public Library of Science.
This study was a systematic review
and meta-analysis of randomised trials. This type of research provides the
strongest evidence for drawing causal conclusions because it draws together all
of the best evidence.
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