Daily Health News Blog

Millions of people who have hypertension, high blood cholesterol, diabetes, or a family history of premature heart disease—or who have already had a heart attack—have been advised by their doctors to take low-dose aspirin. Just one-quarter adult tablet (81 milligrams, sometimes called a "baby" aspirin) daily reduces the tendency of the blood to clot, thus helping to ward off heart attack and stroke. Some people take half a tablet (162 milligrams) every other day or daily. Aspirin therapy has probably saved thousands of lives. If you are on it, you may have noticed recent headlines and TV news reports claiming that for some people, aspirin doesn’t work. What’s going on here? As aspirin therapy has become commonplace, scientists have learned more about it. While low-dose aspirin reduces the risk of a first heart attack in middle-aged men by 44%, for example, it is not a cure-all. Some people on aspirin therapy have a heart attack anyway. No one is sure why—but one factor may b