, said Ragni, a spokeswoman for the American Society of Hematology. She was not involved in the new study.
“That's not shocking. This is not life-shattering news,” Ragni said of the new findings. “However, it really should help people make better decisions as they go forward.” Ragni added that it's normal for all seniors to develop anemia, but that aspirin appears to worsen that aspect of“It should be noted that people who are over 70 are going to have more anemia than people who are much younger,” Ragni said. “In this clinical trial, both groups had some anemia. It was just more profound in the group that took aspirin.”
Researchers suspect that aspirin contributes to anemia by inhibiting countless tiny clots that typically prevent blood from leaking out of the gastrointestinal tract and other locations in the body, McQuilten and Ragni said. “In the gastrointestinal tract, which is the most common place where bleeding might occur, you are at risk for blood loss,” Ragni said. “It just seeps in between blood vessels and outside of thin blood vessel walls.”