Daily use of aspirin was found to be associated with an increased risk of bleeding. However, diabetic patients were at increased risk of bleeding whether they took aspirin or not, a new study says.

The large population based study looked at medical records of nearly 200,000 people who were on low doses of aspirin. Almost 7,000 cases of bleeding were seen in the study group during a period of 6 years.

"Any benefit of low-dose aspirin might be offset by the risk of major bleeding. It is known that aspirin is associated with gastrointestinal and intracranial hemorrhagic complications. However, randomized controlled trials have shown that these risks are relatively small, "authors said.

The study, although, doesn't generalize the idea that aspirin leads to bleeding in people.

Aspirin is recommended for people who have a 10 percent or greater risk of heart attack.

Diabetes was found to be an independent risk factor for bleeding in stomach or brain. Whether these people used aspirin or not, their relative risk for a major bleeding event was up by 36 percent.

"Our study shows, for the first time, to our knowledge, that aspirin therapy only marginally increases the risk of bleeding in individuals with diabetes. These results can represent indirect evidence that the efficacy of aspirin in suppressing platelet function is reduced in this population," the authors said.

Studies have associated aspirin with internal bleeding and peptic ulcers.

According to U.S Preventive Services Task Force and the American Heart Association, the benefits of long-term aspirin use outweigh any risks.

"No preventive approach is without risk. If the benefits are barely measurable but the risks are real and possibly greater, then the decision making may shift against the use of aspirin," said Dr. Thomas Schwenk, Dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, reports ABC News.

"When the cardiovascular risk is low, the adverse effects of aspirin overwhelm any benefit. Unfortunately, many patients taking aspirin represent the 'worried well' rather than individuals with a high risk of coronary artery disease," said Dr. Steve Nissen, chair of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.