Tuesday, March 2, 2010
"An aspirin a day" has become a staple of conventional heart-health wisdom. But for millions, this deceptively powerful regimen could be causing irreparable harm.Are you one of the 40 million Americans who take a low-dose aspirin every day (or every other day) to prevent a heart attack or stroke? Who gave you that idea? Your spouse, a friend, or maybe a TV or magazine ad telling you that aspirin protects your heart by "keeps your blood flowing freely?"
Aspirin, that familiar, inexpensive little white pill, has long been known to carry cardiovascular benefits in addition to its powers as an anti-inflammatory painkiller.
Who is Aspirin for?
Identifying the exact groups of patients who will gain the most benefit from aspirin in relation to the risks the drug brings a higher risk of bleeding, including in the brain, and possible gastrointestinal problems is a bit more difficult than one might think.
Suggests that older folks with no clinical cardiovascular disease who were flagged as being at increased risk identified by a simple test that compares blood pressure in the ankle with that in the arm and can indicate peripheral artery disease might not gain any protection from that daily aspirin, even though PAD is a form of cardiovascular disease.
Who should not use Aspirin?If it wasn't your doctor, and you're a generally healthy person who is taking aspirin because you hope it will keep a heart attack or stroke at bay, you should probably stop. Mounting evidence, reported recently in a number of leading medical journals, suggests doing so is a bad idea if you're healthy and not at significant risk for a heart attack.
Furthermore, these studies now show that the potential risk of cerebral hemorrhage, serious gastrointestinal bleeding, and ulcers anywhere from your mouth to your anus outweighs any heart benefits the aspirin might provide.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, tested whether people identified by the comparative blood pressure test known as the Ankle Brachial Index as being at higher risk for cardiovascular trouble would benefit from aspirin therapy.
The study subjects were people ages 50 to 75 who were identified as being at greater risk by the ABI test. Compared with those who took a placebo, subjects who took a coated, 100-mg aspirin daily did not benefit in any significant way measured by any difference in fatal or nonfatal coronary events and death from any cause. Subjects were followed for an average of eight years. Of 3,350 participants, 20 taking the panacea had a hemorrhage that required a hospital stay, compared with 34 taking the aspirin.
posted by emedinfo
@9:15 PM
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