Therapist Unlimited Blog

Those persons seeking to use aspirin as prevention against cardiovascular disease better abandon the plan now.
A recent medical research has uncovered that the use of low-dose aspirin to ward off heart attacks and strokes in those yet to develop obvious cardiovascular disease can cause serious medical complications.
In the medical world, low-dose aspirin is widely used to prevent further episodes of cardiovascular disease in people who have already had problems such as a heart attack or stroke.
This method known as secondary prevention is well established and of confirmed benefit.
But it is the use of aspirin in primary prevention for those without symptoms, who have not yet had, for example, a heart attack or stroke, but who may be at risk of doing so, following an analysis of the available evidence.
In 2000, cardiovascular disease accounted for two million deaths across the European Union alone, and "worldwide, many people take aspirin every day in the belief that doing so helps prevent cardiovascular disease," says the researchers.

Aspirin could be fatal if not used properly.

The researchers points to various guidelines issued between 2005 and 2008 that recommend aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in various groups of patients. Examples include people aged 50 and older with type 2 diabetes and those with high blood pressure.
But the team explained that the current evidence does not back up the routine use of low-dose aspirin in such groups, because of the potential risk of serious gastrointestinal bleeds that accompany its use and the negligible impact it has on curbing death rates.
Doctors should review all patients currently taking low-dose aspirin for primary prevention, either as prescribed or over-the-counter treatment, says the research team.
"And the decision about whether to continue or stop treatment should be made only after fully informing patients of the available evidence", they added.
"Furthermore,  the researchers concluded that current evidence for primary prevention suggests the benefits and harms of aspirin in this setting may be more finely balanced than previously thought, even in individuals estimated to be at high risk of experiencing cardiovascular events, including those with diabetes or elevated blood pressure.
The researchers believe, that low dose aspirin prophylaxis should not be routinely used for primary prevention.