BOSTON—Over the past 100 years, we have relied on aspirin to control fevers, headaches, arthritis, and pain. Now many people are using it to prevent heart attacks, thanks in part to two large, Harvard-based clinical trials. But like every drug, aspirin can cause health problems as well as solve them. It can upset the stomach and cause bleeding in the stomach or brain. That makes deciding whether to take aspirin to prevent a heart attack is something each man should do in consultation with his doctor, reports the December 2010 Harvard Men’s Health Watch.
This issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch takes on 20 of the most important questions about aspirin. Here are a few examples:
How does aspirin protect the heart? The short answer is that aspirin prevents heart attacks by stopping blood platelets from sticking together and forming artery-blocking clots.
Is there any way to protect my stomach from bleeding? Yes. Low doses of aspirin appear to pose less risk for stomach bleeding than higher doses, so stick to 81 milligrams a day. It is even more important to avoid other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, or to take the lowest effective dose for the shortest time possible, if you are also taking aspirin. Medications such as the acid-suppressing proton-pump inhibitors can prevent aspirin-induced stomach bleeding.
I am a healthy man; should I take aspirin to reduce my risk for heart attack? This is the toughest question of all. It’s a matter of balancing aspirin’s potential benefits against its risks. For men between the ages of 45 and 79, the respected U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends taking daily low-dose aspirin when the benefit (protection against heart attacks) outweighs the risks (bleeding).
Other questions covered include whether to take aspirin if you think you are having a heart attack, if men with diabetes should take aspirin, whether aspirin also protects against stroke, and if it helps to take enteric-coated aspirin. Read the full-length article: “Aspirin and your heart: Many questions, some answers”
Also in this issue:
- Combining medications to fight high blood pressure
- Prostate cancer diagnosis and general health
- Prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia
Harvard Men’s Health Watch is available from Harvard Health Publications (www.health.harvard.edu), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School, for $28 per year. Subscribe at www.health.harvard.edu/men or by calling 877-649-9457 (toll-free).
