Task Force: Little Proof Aspirin Stops Cardiovascular Disease - WebMD

Oct. 12, 2021 – People 60 years old and older should not start taking daily aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease, according to draft recommendations from a national task force that monitors best ways to prevent disease.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task force's proposed guidance says daily aspirin "has no net benefit" for cardiovascular health.

The task force also says people age 40 to 59 with higher risk of disease should make individual decisions about whether to take aspirin.

"Persons who are not at increased risk for bleeding and are willing to take low-dose aspirin daily are more likely to benefit," the task force said.

The new recommendations were posted online today and will be available for public comment until Nov. 8. Once finalized, the recommendation will become the first new recommendations on aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease and colon cancer since 2016..

In 2016, the task force recommended certain adults 50 to 59 begin taking a initiating low-dose aspirin to prevent both cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer. That applied only to patients with a 10% or greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease in the following 10 years and had a life expectancy of at least 10 years.

For older and younger patients, they found at that time that the evidence was "insufficient" to recommend use of aspirin.

Besides the new proposed recommendations for preventing cardiovascular disease, they also changed the previous recommendation for colorectal cancer.

The task force "concluded that the evidence is inadequate that low-dose aspirin use reduces (colorectal cancer) incidence or mortality."