Many patients prescribed aspirin therapy don't need it

Like millions of Americans, Brian Hull has high cholesterol and a family history of heart disease. He takes low-dose aspirin every day to reduce his chance of a heart attack. "The concern was I not have a heart attack like my father did," he told CBS News. Hull, 57 years old, said he believes aspirin maintenance therapy has prevented him from having any episodes of cardiac arrest over the last decade. "Knock on wood, I haven't had one yet and I'm hoping I won't have one forever!" However, a new study in Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds more than 10 percent of patients who are being prescribed aspirin to prevent a first-time heart attack or stroke, should not be taking the medicine.