Aspirin

[Bazile]

http://www.naturalnews.com/028068_aspirin_health_hazards.html

How accurate is the contents of the above ?
Especially the following -

''...taking an aspirin a day also increases the risk of pancreatic cancer by 86 percent ''

( i've posted this in Science as well )

[Sqad]

\\\The conventional medical system has unfortunately supported taking aspirin for improving the cardiovascular system \\\

I must be the "unconventional medical system" as i have never advocated taking aspirin as a prophylaxis against cardiovascular disease and MANY doctors would agree. If there is a family history of cardiovascular disease or a recent thrombo-embolic episode ( stroke or heart attack) then asprin would be indicated.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), an aspirin a day increases the risk for a hemorrhagic stroke by 84%!(6)

Of course it does, if you have a small bleed which would stop without treatment and you are taking aspirin, then you are in trouble, but fortunately most episodes are due to thrombus (clot) and not bleeding.

mrs sqad has just called me into dinner.......so going....

[Old_Geezer]

As far as I was aware different doctors held different views on whether the pros beat the cons or vice versa. I've seen Morning TV doctors giving their support to daily (¼) aspirin, others less keen. I assume the linked to site is one by someone more sceptical. If in doubt, ask your GP.

[Sqad]

I'm back.......but lost interest due to the "double posting".....sorry!

[jake-the-peg]

Posted in Science

This looks like old research - not properly cited and contradicted by a lot of others.

Note there is more interesting recent work on the risk of macular degeneration with regular aspirin use.

Sorry but there you are - drugs often have side affects and reducing the risk in one area nay increase risks in another.

You (with your doctor) make an informed choice based on your particular risk factors.

You *don't* decide what you are and what you're not going to take based on an article in naturalnews.com

Well not if you've any sense you dont

[slaney]

If you scroll down to the end of the page you will see that Dr Jay Davidson is a chiropractor whose purpose is to release America from the shackles of medicine, so he has an anti-drug agenda.

As Sqad says few doctors advocate the use of Aspirin for primary prevention of heart disease in those without a history.

The Cochrane Database is always a good place to start; it gives the results of not just one trial, but the pooled data from many trials.
One such paper (2010) concluded that "daily aspirin reduced deaths from several common cancers across different study populations. Benefits increased with longer treatment duration"
Some cases of pancreatic cancer were included..it was mostly gastro-intestinal cancers which showed benefit.

http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/crdweb/ShowRecord.asp?LinkFrom=OAI&ID=12010007919

A similar more recent paper ..
http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/crdweb/ShowRecord.asp?LinkFrom=OAI&ID=12012027750

And the result of a preliminary study here..
http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-in-the-news.aspx?d=2322

Of course any benefit has to be carefully weighed against the risk of bleeding.

So, not accurate at all is the short answer.

[Wak]

Has anyone any thoughts on whether soluble/dispersible aspirin is better for you than the normal solid tablet??
I assume that a solid tablet would lie in one place in the stomach until completely dissolved or absorbed whereas the dispersible type of aspirin can have very little adverse effect due to being so widely spread initially throughout the stomach.