Low-Dose Aspirin Linked To Bleeding In the Skull, JAMA Review Says

For decades, doctors recommended a so-called “baby” or "low-dose" aspirin to prevent heart attacks and stroke. New research shows that this practice is outdated, and may have life-threatening side effects, including deadly brain bleeding.

Research on the adverse effects of so-called “low dose” aspirin has been accumulating for decades. In fact, we’ve indexed research going back to 1970 on over 50 adverse effects of aspirin signaled in the biomedical literature, all of which you can view on our Aspirin database. Only last month, doctors began reversing decades old aspirin recommendations by warning that the deadly risks of taking a baby aspirin daily outweighed benefits for heart disease and stroke. Despite this, Bayer still markets their aspirin brand as a “Wonder Drug,” “for heart health,” “for stroke prevention,” “for saving lives,” and “for pain relief,” on their website.

Despite Bayer's resistance to communicating clearly to consumers the real risks of their products (including their inherited "headache" of Monsanto's toxic Roundup herbicide), concerning research about aspirin's dark side continues to accumulate.

A new report, published in the journal JAMA Neurology, links low-dose aspirin to increased risk of bleeding in the skull. Titled, “Frequency of Intracranial Hemorrhage With Low-Dose Aspirin in Individuals Without Symptomatic Cardiovascular Disease,” the high gravitas and high powered systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated 13 previous studies involving more than 130,000 people ages 42-74 who had no previous history of heart disease or stroke, and who received either a placebo or low-dose aspirin (~81 milligrams) to prevent the conditions.

According to the study results, people who took the placebo had a 0.46 percent risk of head bleeds during the combined trial periods. The aspirin group, on the other hand, had a 0.63 percent risk which represents a 37% higher relative risk.  

The study concluded:

“Among people without symptomatic cardiovascular disease, use of low-dose aspirin was associated with an overall increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage, and heightened risk of intracerebral hemorrhage for those of Asian race/ethnicity or people with a low body mass index.”

In a previous article titled, “The Evidence Against Aspirin And For Natural Alternatives," we have discussed in greater depth the dark side of aspirin and some natural, evidence-based alternatives, with pcynogenol probably the most compeling from the perspective of clinical trial work comparing it to aspirin.

Learn more by reading additional articles and study papers on our Aspirin database. And don't forget to share this article with friends, family, and loved ones, as well as your health practitioner who may not yet be aware of the new research about aspirin.