Does aspirin do us any good?

A study to examine whether aspirin has an effect on elderly people will be conducted in coming months and will span a period of five years.

Researchers conducting the ASPREE study are seeking to recruit 12,500 healthy Australians.

People are eligible to take part in this study if they are healthy, aged 70 years or over and willing, and able, to provide informed consent. Those who are unable to take part are people with high blood vessel disease, those suffering from a serious illness or allergy to aspirin. Researchers say people who have had, or are at the risk of serious bleeding, are also unable to take part, as are people taking blood thinning medication or have a serious impairment, either mentally or physically.

One of the lead researchers, Professor John McNeil, tells DPS eNews one of the ways to keep older people functioning at home for as long as possible may contribute to “recommending low dose aspirin daily intake when they turn 70 years of age”.

“A lot of people take aspirin on their own accord, but the difficulty is we don’t know if it is doing any good,” Professor McNeil says.

“As people get older, blood vessels become more fragile and aspirin can make them bleed. Quite often the side effects of aspirin outweigh its benefits,” he says.

Professor McNeil says there are many doctors who recommend their patients take aspirin on a regular basis to possibly help them, but there is reportedly no evidence that can prove this.

“It is important we answer this question, and it is an important question every GP should face,” Professor McNeil says.

Professor McNeil says the researchers will test the effects of giving healthy 70-year-olds aspirin as a “routine”, and determine whether it will maintain healthy living and free them from disability.

“Half of the participants will have aspirin and the other half will have a dummy sugar tablet. If the aspirin is really doing something, then we will find out – the participant themselves will not know whether they are taking the dummy tablet or in fact the aspirin,” he says.

According to Professor McNeil, these participants are going to “provide information for future patients”.

“Everything we do with medicine depends on the person before you,” he claims.

To find eligible participants in Australia, researchers will also recruit GPs to join the study as co-investigators.

Do you take aspirin and if so, do you see any benefit from the drug? Share your comments in the box below.