People aged 75 or older who take aspirin daily to ward off heart attacks face a significantly elevated risk of serious or even fatal bleeding, and should be given heartburn drugs to minimize the danger, a 10-year study has found.
Between 40 percent and 60 percent of over-75s in Europe and the United States take aspirin every day, previous studies have estimated, but the implications of long-term use in older people have remained unclear until now because most clinical trials involve patients under 75.
The study published on Wednesday, however, was split equally between over-75s and younger patients, examining a total of 3,166 Britons who had suffered a heart attack or stroke and were taking blood-thinning medication to prevent a recurrence.