Aspirin and Embolism Risk: A Hidden Danger

At the Chiropractic Center Marc Bony in Mataró, we promote natural health by avoiding unnecessary risks. Discover how prolonged use of aspirin can increase the risk of embolism and explore natural alternatives with us.

Two aspirins a day could increase the risk

For many years, pharmaceutical and medical industries have recommended daily aspirin intake as a way to prevent the risk of having an embolism.

However, a study published in September 1999 in the journal Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association found that taking more than 15 aspirins a week (which is considered a “high dose” by researchers) doubles the risk of developing a hemorrhagic embolism caused by a stroke.

The ischemic embolism, the most common form of embolism, occurs when blood clots or other clots in the arteries restrict blood flow to the brain.

Hemorrhagic embolisms occur when one or more blood vessels in the brain break and bleed, and the risk of death is higher than in ischemic embolism.

“This is the first large-scale detailed study on the relationship between aspirin use and the risk of major types of embolism,” explained lead author Joann E. Manson, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Researchers examined aspirin use and the risk of suffering an embolism in 79,319 healthy women aged between 34 and 59 years, and monitored participants over a period of 14 years. From 1980 to 1994, during which 295 ischemic embolisms and 100 hemorrhagic embolisms were recorded.

Dr. Manson noted that while some past research had suggested that it was proven that aspirin taken regularly in small doses by people who had suffered a heart attack or embolism in the past could help prevent recurrence.

The medical debate continues on whether healthy people without a history of cardiovascular problems should take aspirin routinely to prevent the first occurrence of a heart attack or embolism.

Those women who took more than 15 aspirins a week were twice as likely to suffer a hemorrhagic embolism. The risk of hemorrhagic embolisms has tripled in older women with high blood pressure who took more than 15 aspirins a week compared to women who did not take aspirin or who simply took a lower dose.

“This study indicates that it could be both a positive and negative situation regarding the main source of prevention of embolism or heart attack,” said Manson.

“If taking small doses of aspirin reduces the risk of suffering an ischemic embolism in healthy individuals, it is very important information, as it is the most common type of embolism. But on the other hand, our findings suggest that taking high doses of aspirin could be dangerous.”

SOURCES: Advisory press of the American Heart Association, September 2, 1999.

Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, Sept. 1999.
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