A new review shows that patients at high risk of stroke or heart attack have much to gain from long-term use of aspirin.

The protective effect of aspirin, and other drugs that thin the blood, are well known. Now researchers at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford, England, have reviewed all the evidence and found just how effective aspirin is for high risk patients. The evidence covers over 200,000 patients on trials comparing either an antiplatelet (blood-thinning) drug with a placebo, or with a different antiplatelet agent.

The drugs reduce the risk of any serious vascular event - a problem with the blood vessels - by about a quarter. When it comes to non-fatal heart attack, the risk is reduced by a third, non-fatal stroke risk goes down by a quarter and vascular death - heart attack or stroke - decreases by a sixth. And low dose aspirin (75 to 150 milligrams a day) was as good as higher doses.

In short, the benefits of aspirin and related drugs far outweigh the potential hazards for patients at high risk of vascular events. Yet only half of such patients - with a history of heart attack, angina or heart disease - actually receive these protective drugs. Hopefully this study will increase the uptake of aspirin among those who can most benefit from it.

Source

British Medical Journal January 12 2002