While aspirin prevents heart attacks and strokes, taking it unnecessarily may cause more harm than good.

A new study reveals that 11.6 percent of Americans using aspirin are using it with inappropriate frequency.

Aspirin prevents blood clots caused by an enzyme called cyclo-oxygenase. It stops the enzyme from sticking platelets together to form blood clots, which may lead to cardiovascular diseases.

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Use of aspirin, or acetylsalicylic acid, is recommended for patients with at least six percent chance of having heart attacks and strokes in the next 10 years.

Researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine studied 68,800 patients receiving aspirin and used the Framingham assessment tool to calculate their level of general cardiovascular disease risk.

The study found that 7,972 of the patients taking aspirin were at less than six percent general cardiovascular disease risk, which means frequent aspirin use was unnecessary and inappropriate.

It's not clear if patients were taking aspirin due to their cardiologist's prescription or not. The study suggests the easy over-the-counter access to aspirin may be a factor in the inappropriate use of the drug.

The research also found most of the 7,972 patients were young. It also found that 80 percent of these patients are women.

Out of all patients studied, 16.6 percent of women and only 5.3 percent of men were taking aspirin unnecessarily.

While aspirin is useful in preventing strokes by preventing blood clots, it may also cause dangerous bleeding. Excessive bleeding inside the brain can lead to hemorrhagic stroke.

This study appeared online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology on January 12.

Tagsaspirin, heart attack, stroke, brain hemorrhage