Aspirin: It doesn't protect against heart disease

Aspirin is one of the great just-in-case remedies for preventing heart disease, and many hundreds of thousands of people take one a day as part of their health regime - but a new study suggests they could be wasting their time.

The over-the-counter remedy doesn’t help prevent heart disease, researchers discovered when they monitored the health of 1,276 adults suffering from diabetes.  Some were given aspirin, while others took an antioxidant or placebo.

But researchers from the University of Dundee discovered that the drug offered no special protection.  In all, 116 in the aspirin group, and 117 in the no-aspirin group, went on to suffer heart problems.  Worse, there were more deaths from heart disease recorded among those taking an aspirin; 43 in the aspirin group died, compared with 35 in the no-aspirin group.

(Source: British Medical Journal, 2008; 337: a1840).