Doctors have hit another nail into the coffin of aspirin use in primary prevention, with Australian research showing the risk of brain bleeds outweighs any potential benefits in reducing stroke.  

The Monash University–led team found that the use of low-dose aspirin in healthy older adults led to a 38% increase in intracranial bleeding rates but no drop in ischaemic stroke incidence.

“These findings may have particular relevance to older individuals prone to developing intracranial bleeding after head trauma,” they wrote in JAMA Network Open.  

In another secondary analysis of the ASPREE (Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) study, the authors used data from more than 19,000 patients (mean age 74) to determine whether daily low-dose aspirin affected the incidence of stroke and intracranial bleeding.