The American Heart Association recommends aspirin use for patients who’ve had a myocardial infarction (heart attack), unstable angina, ischemic stroke (caused by blood clot) or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs or “little strokes”), if not contraindicated. This recommendation is based on sound evidence from clinical trials showing that aspirin helps prevent the recurrence of such events as heart attack, hospitalization for recurrent angina, second strokes, etc. (secondary prevention). Studies show aspirin also helps prevent these events from occurring in people at high risk (primary prevention).
Aspirin has unsurpassed ability to fight pain and, under a doctor’s care, inflammation and is the only analgesic that can help save your life when taken as directed by a doctor during a suspected heart attack. according to the American Heart Association and researchers at Harvard Medical School there’s a reasonable chance it can. In October 1997, the AHA reported in its journal, Circulation, that up to 10,000 more people would survive heart attacks if they would chew one 325 milligram aspirin tablet when they first had chest pain or other sign of a heart attack. Other studies have come to similar conclusions. One found that heart attack patients who took aspirin when their symptoms began, and then daily for one month, significantly lowered their risk of dying and of having another heart attack or stroke over the people in the study who were given the placebo.
Aspirin can reduce the risk of death if taken as directed by a doctor as soon as a heart attack is suspected. The FDA says that as little as one-half (160 mg) of a regular-strength aspirin tablet reduces the risk of death by up to 23 percent if administered when a heart attack is suspected and continued for 30 days thereafter. Aspirin taken during a suspected heart attack can also lessen the damaging effects of the heart attack.
There are still some women who fail to recognize the symptoms of a cardiovascular “event” because they don’t believe it could happen to them. Fortunately, cardiovascular research today generally includes women. The National Institute of Health has conducted a study of 40,000 post-menopausal female nurses, for example, to evaluate the effects of aspirin as well as beta carotene and Vitamin E on their risk for cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The FDA recommends regular aspirin use to prevent a stroke in people who have suffered a transient ischemic attack (TIA or mini-stroke). Aspirin also helps prevent a second or recurrent stroke and, as with heart attacks, lessens the damaging effects of a stroke that does occur.
Even before the potential effect of aspirin on heart disease was confirmed, aspirin had been the “anchor drug” in medicine cabinets across the country. Aspirin was officially introduced 100 years ago and has been marketed in its current form for more than 80 years. Aspirin is found in so many homes, however, that few people think of it as a drug. If it were introduced today, though, aspirin might have a difficult time being approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and might even be restricted to being dispensed by prescription only. It does have side effects and it is not for everyone.
spirin benefits the heart in several ways:
* Decreases pain. Aspirin fights pain and inflammation associated with heart disease by blocking the action of an enzyme called cyclooxygenase. When this enzyme is blocked, the body is less able to produce a substance called prostaglandin, which is a chemical that signals an injury and triggers pain.
* Inhibits blood clots. Some of the prostaglandins in the blood trigger a series of events that cause blood platelets to clump together and form blood clots. Thus, when aspirin inhibits prostaglandins, it inhibits the formation of blood clots, as well. Blood clots are harmful because they can clog the arteries leading to the heart, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Aspirin has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and reduce the short-term risk of death among people suffering from heart attacks.
* Reduces the risk of polyp recurrence in people with a history of colon polyps.
* Reduces the risk of death. Research has shown that regular aspirin use is associated with a marked reduction from death due to all causes, particularly among the elderly, people with heart disease, and people who are physically unfit.
Aspirin can realistically be called a wonder drug because of the many remedial effects it can have on the human body. Basically, it interferes with the production of a series of chemicals in the body — called prostaglandins — that regulate many of the body’s vital functions. By blocking certain prostaglandins, aspirin lowers body temperature, relieves minor aches and pains, relieves inflammation and interferes with the role of blood platelets in forming clots. It is this last effect that appears to impact on risk for heart disease.
Another use of aspirin is for the prevention of heart attacks in people who have suffered either a previous heart attack or who suffer from unstable angina. A regimen of aspirin for people who already had a previous heart attack reduced the risk of a second heart attack by about one-third. In patients suffering from unstable angina, the risk was reduced by 51 percent. Aspirin can prevent first heart attack and stroke in individuals with angina. This includes patients with clinical evidence of blockage to heart blood vessels such as those with a type of chest pain known as stable angina. Millions of Americans are in this high-risk category.
Aspirin may well be one of the safest and most widely used drugs on the market today, but it also has some potentially serious side effects for those who cannot tolerate it. Aspirin can be hard on the stomach and cause nausea; it can aggravate gastric ulcers; and cause internal bleeding. It may increase the risk for stroke due to bleeding. Those who are allergic to aspirin can go into shock if they take it. And, aspirin is the trigger to a rare and sometimes fatal childhood disease, Reyes Syndrome, when taken following certain viral infections.
While it can certainly be an effective weapon against heart disease when used as part of a medically supervised program to modify the risks for heart disease, aspirin should not be considered a substitute for stopping smoking, for exercise, or for lowering cholesterol levels. The use of drugs — even those sold over the counter — should always be discussed with your physician. Ask your doctor to help you determine if the potential advantages of taking aspirin outweigh the risks in your individual case.
Tags: american heart association, aspirin tablet, cardiovascular event, harvard medical school, heart attack patients, heart attacks, ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, prevention studies, primary prevention, recurrent angina, secondary prevention, sign of a heart attack, unstable angina