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Taking an aspirin per day may increase the risk of internal bleeding among the elderly
Key points from article :
Elderly people in good health should not take an aspirin a day.
Large trial found no benefit for healthy people over the age of 70.
But the pills increased the risk of potentially fatal internal bleeding.
There are proven benefits for people after a heart attack or stroke.
Most research on aspirin is performed on people in middle age.
Study of nearly 20,000 over 70s with no history of heart problems.
The studies were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
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Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor, Head of School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University.
Head of the Centre for the Prevention of Stroke and Dementia and Professor of Clinical Neurology.
