Dr. Weeks’ Comment:  Aspirin is a double edged sword…  in appropriate dosages, very beneficial but at wrong dosages highly toxic….The 1919 Spanish flu – mistakenly blamed for killing people  –  was culpable only because it afforded doctors the opportunity to prescribe a new medicine: aspirin.  The problem which arose was that the aspirin, then newly on the market was given by well-intended doctors in overdosages since they thought if some if helpful, more would be better. Too much aspirin causes bleeding and can thereby be lethal.  Now, we see that aspirin can cause eye diseases:  macular degeneration.  That is why the people who I  share with who seek benefits of anti-inflammation are taking SOUL   – the 3 seed anti-inflammatory drink – and no longer taking aspirin, Tylenol, Motrin or any other drugs.  Eat the seed! 

Aspirin linked to macular degeneration

Patients taking regular aspirin face a twofold increased risk of developing aged-related macular degeneration, a 15-year Australian study suggests.

The results, from the NSW Blue Mountains Eye study, have prompted an Australian expert to call for a cautious rethink on one of the nation’s most widely used drugs.

The research found patients taking aspirin more than once per week were 2.5 times more likely to develop wet AMD over 15 years than their peers who used aspirin less than once per week.

The risk increased with the frequency of aspirin dosing: AMD developed in 2.2% of patients who did not use aspirin, 2.9% of those who used it occasionally and 5.8% of those used it regularly.

This association appeared regardless of whether patients had a history of cardiovascular disease and smoking, the researchers wrote Tuesday in JAMA Internal Medicine (online).

“If these results reflect a true causal relationship, there are serious implications for the millions of people using aspirin therapy,” they said.

Study author Associate Professor Paul Mitchell, a clinical ophthalmologist at the University of Sydney, suggested caution when prescribing aspirin to patients with advancing AMD.

“That’s the very group that we’d be concerned about: people for whom there could be a potentially increased risk for progression to late-stage neovascular AMD,” he told Australian Doctor.

Professor Mitchell conceded the association could result from confounding factors, but said two other recent studies had reported similar findings.

“For prevention of heart disease and stroke, there are good data suggesting benefit [from aspirin], and we wouldn’t want to suggest interfering with that,” he added.

The study tracked 2400 people aged 49 or older using retinal photographs, typically performed every four years.

There were 257 regular aspirin users among this group, 63 (25%) of whom developed neovascular AMD over the study period.

JAMA Internal Medicine 2013; online.

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