What are the risks of taking daily aspirin?

Daily aspirin can significantly increase the risk of bruising, stomach bleeding, and in rare cases, life-threatening brain haemorrhages.

Is daily aspirin still recommended for heart attack prevention?

For individuals without pre-existing cardiovascular disease, current guidance suggests limited benefit, and health officials proposed not routinely offering aspirin to prevent a first heart attack in 2023.

When is daily aspirin still recommended?

The NHS still recommends that patients who have suffered a heart attack or stroke take a low-dose daily aspirin, as the benefits are considered to outweigh the risks for them.

Home / Health / Aspirin: Heart Hero or Health Hazard?

Aspirin: Heart Hero or Health Hazard?

25 Jan

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Summary

Daily aspirin offers limited benefit to healthy adults.
Aspirin significantly increases bleeding risks.
NHS now advises against routine aspirin for first heart attack prevention.

For decades, a daily low-dose aspirin was a common recommendation for preventing heart attacks and strokes in many adults. However, medical understanding has shifted dramatically over the past 20 years. Current research indicates that for individuals without pre-existing cardiovascular disease, the benefits of daily aspirin are minimal while the risks of side effects, such as bleeding and, in rare instances, life-threatening brain haemorrhages, are significantly increased.

In response to evolving evidence, official guidance has been tightened. By 2021, the NHS recommended daily aspirin only upon a doctor's prescription. More recently, in 2023, health officials proposed not routinely offering aspirin to prevent a first heart attack. While the NHS still advises patients who have experienced a heart attack or stroke to take daily aspirin due to outweighing benefits, many healthy individuals remain unaware of the potential dangers of regular aspirin use.