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CommonHealth: Guideline Changes And Controversy Over Aspirin-A-Day Regimens

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Just six years ago, doctors recommended aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Now, recommendations are changing, and many doctors are questioning whether taking a daily aspirin is really worth the risks.

Guest

Carey Goldberg,, editor of WBUR’s CommonHealth blog. She tweets @commonhealth.

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CommonHealth: Popping A Daily Baby Aspirin? Caution: New Guidelines, Amid Controversy

  • "When I started residency three years ago, the benefits of aspirin, specifically 81-mg baby aspirin, seemed clear. Even the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a top panel of experts that issues guidelines, endorsed low dose aspirin for large swaths of the population: men aged 45-79, and women aged 55-79, who were not at high risk for bleeding or other side effects. In other words, about a quarter of the population could benefit from a daily aspirin. And recently, reports have suggested that aspirin may even prevent cancer. But new recommendations from the USPSTF, published last month in the Annals of Internal Medicine, recommend aspirin for far fewer people."

This segment aired on June 2, 2016.

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