When we recently discussed the advantages of taking a low daily dose of aspirin to reduce a patient's risk of various forms of cancer, we've also felt the need to remind you about the inherent risks of taking it, even if you're a healthy Mom in waiting.

Excess stomach bleeding is probably the best known problem associated with taking low-dose aspirin. So much so, that the Mayo Clinic has devoted a "risks and rewards" page to it. Taking aspirin with other drugs like clopidogrel (Plavix), anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen and anticoagulants like warfarin (Coumadin), however, expands that risk, according to a recent study.

Spanish scientists compared the health and medicines taken by more than 2,000 patients (age 40-84) who suffered from stomach bleeding (31 percent of them were taking low-dose aspirin) to some 20,000 patients who were similar in age and gender and hadn't reported any problems.

The surprise wasn't that taking low-dose aspirin doubled a patient's chances of stomach bleeding or that taking warfarin and ibuprofen along with aspirin increased it beyond taking aspirin alone. Compared to taking no drug at all, the mix of clopidogrel and aspirin multiplied the bleeding risks of patients by as much as a factor of four.

Unfortunately, one option available to patients for treating stomach bleeding -- proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) like Prevacid, Nexium and Prilosec -- comes with its own set of problems too, namely a higher risk for bone fractures.

Circulation, Vol. 123, No. 10, p. 1108-1115, March 15, 2011

Yahoo News March 11, 2011