2023-06-20 04:30:41
Low-dose aspirin has been a popular prevention measure, but as more evidence mounted, its benefits were questioned.
Recently, the guide US Preventive Services Task Force. advised against daily low-dose aspirin use in people over 60 to prevent cardiovascular events such as heart attacks or strokes.
Now, analysis of the ASPREE trial (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) has seen that the use of low doses of aspirin was associated with a 20% increase in the incidence of anemia and decreased ferritin.
These findings suggest that periodic monitoring of hemoglobin should be considered in elderly patients taking aspirin. The analysis is published in «Annals of Internal Medicine».
Approximately half of seniors in the US have acknowledged taking aspirin preventively. One of the complications of aspirin use is an increased risk of serious bleeding, especially gastrointestinal. Although the risk of overt bleeding due to aspirin has been well characterized, very few studies have measured the effect of aspirin on anemia, particularly in older populations.
researchers of the Melbourne Monash University conducted a post hoc analysis of the ASPREE randomized controlled trial. The trial involved 19,114 people aged 70 and over who were randomly assigned to take 100 mg of aspirin daily or placebo. Hemoglobin and ferritin were measured annually at baseline and 3 years after randomization.
The data showed that the risk of developing anemia was 23.5% among those assigned to receive low-dose aspirin.. These results were accompanied by a small but greater decrease in mean hemoglobin and a greater decrease in ferritin concentrations among those receiving aspirin.
The clinically significant bleeding differences did not explain the overall difference in incident anemia or the decreased ferritin observed in the ASPREE study, but were probably due to occult blood loss, given the more pronounced decrease in ferritin observed in participants assigned to aspirin.
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