Aspirin: All You Need to Know
If you are considering daily aspirin therapy, you may already know that it has the potential to lower your risk of heart attack or stroke. What you might not know is that long-term use of daily aspirin therapy isn’t right for everyone and may cause health problems under certain circumstances. This article is not meant to replace the advice of your health care professional, but will provide an overview on the use of aspirin therapy. Use this article to help you form your own questions about the pros and cons of daily aspirin use and take those questions with you when you visit your doctor. What is aspirin made of? Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid, is a term for medication most commonly used to treat pain, fever, inflammation, heart attack or stroke. Other uses are still being studied, including for treating certain kinds of cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease. The Lancet study recently found that a daily aspirin appeared to lower the risk of certain cancers by at least 20 percent during a 20-year period. That’s based on data from more than 25,000 patients and builds on earlier findings that aspirin may lower the risk of colorectal cancer. The report acknowledged that the research had limitations, but it does add another benefit to an ancient remedy.