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People who regularly take aspirin for many years, such as those with heart problems, are more prone to developing a form of blindness, according to a report published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. 

In the study, one or more times a week was considered regular use. Older people who used aspirin regularly had double the risk of the eye disease.

Scientists concluded that people who take Aspirin on a regular basis are much more likely to develop "wet" age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD) than those who do not.

After adjustment for age, sex, and history of smoking, the odds ratio for macular degeneration in aspirin users was 2.37 (95% CI 1.25 to 4.49), according to Jie Jin Wang, PhD, of the University of Sydney, and colleagues.

However, "the evidence is insufficient to adjudicate the relationship between aspirin and [age-related macular degeneration], thereby challenging causal inferences," Sanjay Kaul, MD, and George A. Diamond, MD, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, wrote in an invited commentary.

A total of 257 participants were regular aspirin users. Compared with nonusers, they were older and more often had conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or elevated blood pressure.

The disease, in which one's central vision becomes progressively more blurred, affects a quarter of a million mainly elderly people in Britain.

Scientists in Australia said that they had found the strongest evidence yet that Aspirin, taken by millions to ward off heart attacks, strokes and cancer, appeared to greatly increase the chance of developing wet AMD, which is irreversible.

Some people take a daily dose of low-dose aspirin to prevent heart attack. Some studies have suggested low-dose aspirin can be beneficial for people with certain types of cancer, too. While the link between aspirin and neovascular age-related macular degeneration is concerning, experts have said that prospective randomized studies should be done before advising patients to change their current use of aspirin.

Oxford University researchers have found it reduces the incidence of some cancers by a third, while it also retards the growth of tumors.