Does an aspirin a day keep the stroke away?

2 of 3

Write now Article Tools

The findings in all studies are that aspirin may not prevent strokes. When the patient with myocardial infarction takes the baby aspirin of 75 mg, the risks are reduced. But the same dose does not reduce the risk in stroke patients, without vascular disease. Many doctors are prescribing aspirin to many patients promising the prevention of strokes, without any evidence that it does.

adparams.getadspec('c_billboard1');

HELAD_gen_google_custom(adparams, "c_billboard1", "text_image", "banner", 300, 250); #ada1{ text-align:left; background-color:#FFFFFF; font-size:16px; font-family:Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; overf1ow:hidden } #ada1 a:link, #ada1 a:visited, #ada1 a:hover, #ada1 a:active{ color:#000066; } #ada1 div div{ margin:0px 0px 16px 0px; overf1ow:hidden } #ada1 div div div{ margin:1px 0px 1px 0px } #ada{ text-align:left; background-color:#FFFFFF; font-size:14px; font-family:Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; overf1ow:hidden } #ada a:link, #ada a:visited, #ada a:hover, #ada a:active{ color:#000066; } #ada div div{ margin:0px 0px 16px 0px; overf1ow:hidden } #ada div div div{ margin:1px 0px 1px 0px }

Ads by Google

Aspirin taken on a daily basis has been in the past a well-known way to reduce heart attacks and strokes, but the new research has refuted this claim. There is no longer a "one-size-fits-all" remedy for strokes and heart disease. It is further stated that the aspirin does not protect the brain from strokes.

"We noticed that a lot of people who have strokes or heart attacks are taking daily aspirin. So we decided to look at why aspirin failed to protect them," says Mark Alberts, MD, director of the stroke program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

When the Norwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago conducted a test on 126 people taking aspirin in different quantities, they only found 44 percent of those tested to have adequate blood thinning, which is what the aspirin is supposed to do.

The findings on coated aspirin were specifically alarming. Previously, it was thought that coated aspirin protected the stomach and was the ultimate choice of all aspirins. But the findings indicated that 65 percent of the the patients using coated aspirin had no blood thinning properties at all.

A trial was conducted by Archives of Neurology testing 52,251 patients with an average age of 57 years. They followed these patients for 4.6 years and they were high risk patients and two trials with healthy male physicians. The aspirin dosage was 75 mg-650mg and the findings indicated that the prevention of stroke was not aided, although there was a reduction of myocardial infarction by 26 percent.

So why are so many doctors prescribing aspirin to patients? The patients are feeling secure that they will be protected and it looks like the only people being protected, is the makers of aspirin as they line their pocketbooks. Another trial was done on low risk patients and after regular use of aspirin, the intracranial hemorrhage increased by 35 percent, causing an increased negativity in the study. With regular use of aspirin, there was an average of 50 percent in major extracranial bleeding.

The researchers stated the benefits of aspirin in healthy adults to prevent strokes is insufficient to warrant regular use. The overall consensus was that taking aspirin did not prevent stroke but it did prevent a percentage of heart attacks. Doctors should be more careful when promising patients that they are protected from strokes.

Learn more about this author, Barbi Trejo.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add This Entry To Your CureZone Favorites!