Taking aspirin may forestall coronary heart assaults, stroke and early loss of life, research says

Heart attack survivors may gain advantage from taking every day aspirin to advertise higher well being and lengthy life, based on researchers.

Dr Anna Meta Kristensen mentioned: “Our findings suggest that not taking aspirin as prescribed after a heart attack is linked to a higher risk of having another heart attack, a stroke or dying.

“We advocate that each one sufferers who’ve had a coronary heart assault keep adherent to their aspirin in accordance with tips till randomised managed trials have confirmed in any other case, and medical tips have been modified.”

Dr Kristensen’s research consisted of data collected from Danish nationwide health registries.

Participants included in the research had a first-time heart attack from 2004 to 2017 and were treated with a coronary stent.

All patients included in the data were prescribed aspirin during the first year following the heart attack.

Patients who were on anticoagulants, or had a stroke or recurrent heart attack, within the first year of recovery were excluded from the study.

Dr Kristensen, of Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital in Denmark, explained.

“Both anticoagulants and P2Y12 inhibitors are brokers that, much like aspirin, work to forestall the formation of blood clots,” Dr Kristensen said.

“Therefore, sufferers present process such therapies had been excluded from our research.”

For those involved in the study, their adherence to aspirin intake was evaluated at two, four, six and eight years after the heart attack.

In Denmark, every time a patient picks up a prescription of aspirin, the date of collection is recorded in registries, which informed the data results.

Dr Kristensen added: “We assessed the results of long-term aspirin use in sufferers who weren’t receiving different drugs for the prevention of coronary heart assault or stroke.”

General adherence to aspirin intake gradually decreased over the years, the researchers noted.

However, while taking into account other factors – such as age, blood pressure, and cholesterol – the research team still found that aspirin usage reduces the risk of another heart attack, stroke, or death.

Dr Kristensen said: “Our outcomes ought to be interpreted with warning as a result of they present an affiliation however don’t set up causality.

“Furthermore, our findings cannot be generalised to all patients who experience a heart attack, as our study specifically focused on those who received treatment with a coronary stent and they were not taking other medications to prevent blood clot formation.”