Aspirin use and Macular Degeneration

 

A recent study made a connection between taking aspirin and the incidence of severe forms of macular degeneration.  The study suggested that there was a significantly increased risk in those taking aspirin.

There are a lot of folks who take aspirin, even daily aspirin to reduce the liklihood of heart disease or stroke when they have risk factors for these vascular diseases. Should you consider stopping aspirin if you take it regularly?

The answer in most cases, is no.  If there is a good reason for you to take aspirin and your primary care doctor recommends it, it should not be stopped based on this new study.  In fact, if you look at the actual data of the study, there were relatively few patients who had severe macular degeneration and who took aspirin.  Of about 5000 participants in the study, there were only 36 or so who both had severe macular degeneration and took aspirin.  It’s hard to draw a whole lot of conclusions based on such relatively small numbers.

My conclusion is that if you take aspirin just because you want to take it, perhaps cutting back or stopping may be a good idea. But if you take aspirin because your doctor has recommended it, you probably should continue.  In any case, it is best to check with your own doctor.

One comment on “Aspirin use and Macular Degeneration

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