Aspirin? – Yes, Do you think you should take to prevent heart attack and stroke, right??
Well……perhaps. A meta-analysis, done recently shows that being overzealous about aspirin use for prevention of initial heart attack and stroke may be unsubstantiated.
In this meta analysis, specifically 95,000 subjects were evaluated, producing 1671 vascular events in the aspirin group and 1883 in the control group.
Aspirin was associated with an absolute reduction of 0.06% heart-related events per year. Correspondingly, aspirin did not significantly reduce ischemic stroke risk, but researchers noted a borderline-significant increase in hemorrhagic stroke. Aspirin also increased the incidence of bleeding outside the brain. Overall, aspirin was not associated with a significant reduction in vascular death.
What does this mean? The advantages of aspirin in low risk patients are scant. As cardiovascular risk factors (like smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, family history of early stroke/heart attack) pile up, aspirin gains a bit more support, though there is a modest associated bleeding risk.
We will be following this data and it’s analysis further. In the meantime, it may be reasonable to discuss things with your doctor, or perhaps cut aspirin dosing to the appropriate lowest dose (81mg in most patients).