Aspirin causes heart failure it’s supposed to prevent

Aspirin is the just-in-case drug to prevent stroke and heart disease—but researchers have discovered it actually increases the risk of heart failure.

Ironically, it raises the risk in those who are more likely to be taking the drug.  Smokers, or the obese, or those with hypertension or pre-existing heart problems face an increased risk of heart failure if they take the drug.

Their risk increases by up to 26 percent if they have even one of these risk factors, say researchers from the University of Freiburg.  

They assessed the drug’s risk by monitoring more than 30,000 people who already had one of the risk factors for heart disease.  Around 25 percent of them were taking aspirin, and the researchers discovered the drug increased the risk by 26 percent.

(Source: ESC Heart Failure, 2021; doi: 10.1002/ehf2.13688) 

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