A landmark study has found an aspirin a day for healthy Australians won’t reduce heart attack or stroke risk.

The largest and most comprehensive study of its kind examined whether the millions of older people around the world who take low dose aspirin to stave off cardiovascular diseases experienced prolonged good health as a result.

The seven-year ASPREE study revealed a daily aspirin did not lower the risk of death, disability or the risk of a first heart attack or stroke, with little difference between the placebo and aspirin groups.

Instead, the researchers found a slight increase in the number of cases of serious bleeding among the aspirin-takers compared to the placebo group.

Principal Investigator of ASPREE, Professor John McNeil, tells Chris Smith “we tested it well and we found that for people that don’t need it, it provides no benefit at all”.

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