Frequent aspirin use ‘can cause risk of bleeding in older adults’

People aged 75 and over may be at a greater risk of serious bleeding if they take aspirin on a regular basis, according to new research.

The University of Oxford study, published in The Lancet, analysed data from 3,166 patients who had previously had a stroke or heart attack and had been prescribed with antiplatelet drugs, with aspirin being the most commonly-used treatment.

It was found that although short-term aspirin use after a stroke or heart attack delivered clear benefits, long-term daily aspirin use was linked to a higher-than-expected risk of disabling or fatal bleeding.

For patients under 65 taking daily aspirin, the annual rate of bleeds requiring hospital admission was approximately 1.5 percent, but this rose to 3.5 percent for patients aged 75 to 84 and to five percent for those aged over 85.

As such, the researchers recommended that proton-pump inhibitors should be co-prescribed for adults in these older age groups to reduce the risk of bleeds.

Professor Peter Rothwell, lead author from University of Oxford, UK, said: "We have known for some time that aspirin increases the risk of bleeding for elderly patients, but our new study gives us a much clearer understanding of the size of the increased risk."

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