Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Who should take a daily aspirin?
I've been taking an 81mg aspirin more or less every day for a couple of years now. I seem to have stumbled inadvertently on the right timing:
The key points:Men should start a daily aspirin at age 45, mainly to protect against heart attacks. Women should start at 55, mainly to protect against stroke. For both sexes, a baby aspirin -- typically 81 milligrams a day -- will do the job. There is no evidence that a larger dose makes a difference.
And both sexes should stop by age 80, unless their doctors say otherwise. As you get older, there's a greater risk of bleeding in the brain or the digestive system -- a risk that is small but can be fatal in some cases.
2 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Mar 17, 03:53:00 PM:
Like all medical advice, ask your doctor etc. So I asked my Dad a few years back if a baby aspirin a day was a good idea for me. His answer was an unqualified, yes.
By 
Dennis, at
Tue Mar 17, 11:08:00 PM:
I agree that aspirin is a useful drug for these purposes because it is both a reasonably potent anti-inflammatory drug and an anticoagulent. However the observation that a baby aspirin is the correct dosage is not rooted in trials with people taking that dosage; rather, it is based on a multiple regression analysis of how much aspirin people take and the chances of them having heart attack or stroke. Lots of these folks periodically took 2 "adult strength" aspirin (700 mg total)and virtually none actually took the 81 mg per day dosage for an extended period. Aspirin does persist in the bloodstream for multiple days after taking even 350 mg so the baby asprin regimen may not be the only way, or even the best way, to reap the benefits of aspirin.
