Many people still believe the benefits of taking an aspirin every day to prevent heart attacks and strokes outweigh the potential dangers – despite experts warning of the contrary more than five years ago.
New findings from the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania show that 48% of adults believe the heart health benefits of taking a low-dose aspirin — 81mg or less — are greater than the risks of bleeding in the stomach, intestines and brain. However, research has shown this is only true for people who have a higher likelihood of heart attack or stroke.
"Habits backed by conventional wisdom and the past advice of health care providers are hard to break," Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, said in statement. "Knowing whether taking a low-dose aspirin daily is advisable or not for you is vital health information."
For years, health care providers had recommended people take a low-dose aspirin as a blood thinner to reduce clotting in arteries. Clots can stop blood flow to the heart and brain, trigging heart attacks and strokes. It was believed that aspirin could help prevent these outcomes.
However, in 2019, the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association stopped recommending daily aspirin for adults over 70, because it can prevent clots in wounds. That risk, particularly for gastrointestinal bleeding, was deemed higher than the heart health benefits of aspirin. The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force made a similar recommendation in 2022, advising that adults 60 and over should not begin a low-dose aspirin routine unless they have signs of heart disease or a family history of it.
Despite this, almost 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. without a history of heart attack or stroke take a low-does aspirin regularly, the Annenberg Center found. Of that group, 10% said they take it "basically every day," 2% take it a few times a week and 6% a few times per month. Those numbers are higher among people ages 40 to 59, with 18% regularly taking a low-dose aspirin and 43% believing the heart health benefits outweigh the risks.
Younger adults are most familiar with the latest expert recommendations, with 29% of 18- to 39-year-olds believing daily aspirin is not worth the risk, the Annenberg Center found. By contrast, only 11% of adults ages 40 to 59 and only 7% of people age 60 and older believe that. The Annenberg Center said this may be because older patients are more familiar with earlier guidances.
A daily dose of aspirin is still a good strategy to prevent heart attacks in people with heart disease – as long as they don't have a higher risk of increased bleeding, the Annenberg Center said. This includes 40- to 59-year-olds whose risk of having a cardiovascular event in the next 10 years in 10% or higher.
The Annenberg Center based its study on data collected from a national survey of 1,771 adults. It was taken in November.
In recent years, other studies have shown that daily aspirin may prevent colon cancer and that taking it with birth control increases the risk of blood clots.