‘An apple a day, keeps the doctor away’ has slowly changed to ‘An aspirin each day will keep the doctors away’. Aspirin has been touted as the miracle drug since the time its anti-clotting activity was discovered.

It has been marketed strong and wide as THE drug to prevent heart attacks and strokes. But according to one newly published study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the risks of an internal bleed in the brain far outweigh the benefits.

Aspirin inhibits the action of thromboxane and thereby prevents the formation of clots inside blood-vessel walls. By this anti-platelet activity it reduces the risk of a clot blocking blood supply to any tissue especially the cardiac and cerebral tissue, preventing heart attacks and strokes.

So doctors prescribe aspirins to just about all patients above 55 years age as a preventive measure against the age-related risk of suffering from a heart attack. This is turning out to be not such a smart move.

A research involving data collected from 9 clinical trials recruiting more than a lakh people having a history in any form of cardiovascular disease over an average time period  of 6 years was conducted. Half took placebo and another half took aspirin.

The results were astounding. The aspirin-takers did not reduce the risk of dying from strokes or heart attacks although it did cut the risk of having a non-lethal heart attack by a mere 10%. Sadly, they boosted the risk of a serious internal bleed by a whopping 30%.

Kausik Ray, M.D., Professor of Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases at St. George’s, London University, co-author of the study, said that multiple factors contribute in determining whether a person will die or not of a heart attack.

He says that even with higher doses of aspirin there isn’t much risk reduction of a heart attack and that they are aware of the elevated risk of an internal bleed even on low doses of aspirin.

Now, ideally, aspirin was to be given only to patients with a history of stroke or heart attack to prevent future attacks but has now become a thumb rule for all middle-aged people.

So researchers are now trying to impress the importance of reviewing current guidelines for use of aspirin on people without a prior history.At the same time they are reinforcing that people who have suffered from a stroke or heart attack must continue to take aspirin in the recommended dosage without fail.