In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that received wide coverage in the popular press, researchers raised a red flag about the risk of gastrointestinal and cerebral bleeding associated with taking a daily aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke. The study, conducted in Italy, involved 370,000 hospitalized patients, half of whom were given a daily dose of aspirin. Study authors reported that those who took the daily aspirin had an increased risk of significant bleeding in the stomach or brain of 55%, which is a higher number than had been indicated by earlier research. One of the study's authors, Antonio Nicolucci, MD, asserts that the research contraindicated the use of aspirin for that purpose except where significant cardiovascular risk factors were involved: “If the risk of having a cardiovascular event is low. Then the risk of bleeding will likely offset any beneficial effect of aspirin.” Not all clinicians agree; in commenting on the study, Jolatna Siller-Matula, MD, says that “The net benefit of aspirin for secondary prevention would substantially exceed the bleeding hazard.” More clinicians are weighing in on an ongoing controversy whose fires will only be fueled by the JAMA study.
JAMA文章的原文链接：http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1172042
