Aspirin effective against heart attack or stroke - but only with Therapieiediziplin!

Aspirin: Improving adherence may reduce risk of heart attack

Most people take aspirin to treat their headaches. But the drug can also prevent against heart attack and stroke. Quite essential, however, is the adherence to therapy, as health experts now report.

Drug for numerous ailments

Aspirin is a widely used medication that is used to treat ailments such as headache, toothache or fever. The remedy is also used to prevent heart attacks and stroke. But for those patients, adherence decreases over time. According to researchers, improving adherence may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease due to impaired vascular flow ("ischemic").

Patient adherence to aspirin for the prevention of heart attack or stroke decreases with time. Improving adherence can help reduce the risk of such diseases. (Image: BillionPhotos.com/fotolia.com)

Only available with warning in the future

Since over-the-counter painkillers such as aspirin, ibuprofen or paracetamol are sometimes associated with severe side effects, such preparations will in future only be available with warning.

This is to ensure that the funds are not taken beyond the maximum recommended duration.

However, this should not be taken as a misconception that these drugs can be very useful if used correctly.

For example, low-dose acetylsalicylic acid ("aspirin") can not only help against toothache, headache or menstrual pain, but also prevent, among other things, a severe stroke, as British researchers reported.

Aspirin for the prevention of heart attacks and stroke

In addition, the remedy is also used to prevent heart attacks or stroke. However, according to experts, adherence to patients who do this diminishes over time, increasing the risk of suffering from one of these diseases.

The German Society for Cardiology - Cardiovascular Research e.V. reports in a communication published by Informationsdienst Wissenschaft (idw).

Improving adherence may, however, help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease due to impaired vascular flow ("ischemic").

This was reported by researchers from Germany and the USA at the European Cardiology Congress in Munich, after they had systematically evaluated 79 scientific studies of different types.

Declining adherence

According to the data, acetylsalicylic acid is often used to prevent ischemic cardiac or brain diseases and colorectal cancer in dosages of up to 325 milligrams per day, which is less than usual in the treatment of pain.

A research team led by epidemiologist Dr. Pareen Vora (Bayer AG, Berlin) has now analyzed the literature on adherence.

The evaluated studies showed a compliance rate of 72.5 to 85.7 percent in primary prevention, ie in patients who did not yet have a cardiovascular event.

In patients who had one event and wanted to prevent another (secondary prevention), the adherence was 69 to 88 percent.

Observational studies reported treatment discontinuations of up to ten percent in the first year, from 20 to 35 percent after two years, and up to 65 percent in the third to fifth years.

Reliable long-term intake

As explained in the communication, 22 studies examined the different risks of patients who are loyal to therapy and not therapists.

In 21 of these it was shown that adherence had a significantly reduced risk in at least one type of disease, ie heart attack or stroke.

A large controlled clinical trial in men who did not have a heart attack reported a 51-percent reduction in heart attack risk in treatment-matched patients.

The reliable long-term intake of acetylsalicylic acid therefore leads to significantly better gradients.

However, taking long-term aspirin also increases the risk of life-threatening bleeding, as a study by Oxford University scientists has shown. (Ad)