The draft guidelines would reverse decades of practice in directing patients at risk of cardiovascular disease to take low doses of aspirin
For decades, Americans have been advised by doctors that taking a daily low-dose of aspirin can help prevent heart attacks and strokes—but a draft recommendation from an expert panel released Tuesday proposes stepping back from the practice, saying that the possible side effects outweigh the benefits. “If you don’t have a history of heart attack and stroke, you shouldn’t be starting on aspirin just because you reach a certain age,” USPSTF member Chien-Wen Tseng told the Washington Post, adding he hopes the guidance will “get people to talk with their clinicians instead of just buying a bottle off the shelf and saying, ‘I should be on aspirin.
