Aspirin and heart

1988/06/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

People who have suffered an infarction with aspirin can significantly reduce the risk of suffering a second attack. A survey conducted in the US has announced this.

In this case, the role of aspirin in in the prevention of infarction has not been analysed. The therapeutic role of aspirin after suffering the first infarction has been studied.

17,000 patients from 16 locations participated in this study. Patients could randomly take one out of four types of traments: aspirin alone, thrombolytic drug called streptokinase, both (one after the other) or none. Streptokinase dissolves the blood clots that cause infarction and reduces the risk of a second infarction. The doctors wanted to see if the aspirin could or could not.

The conclusions of the study were as follows:

Taking only aspirin, the risk drops by one-fifth. Taking only streptokinase, the risk drops by a quarter. Streptoquin and aspirin decrease the risk by one third.
• The combined trio also reduces risk by one-third.

These results are very satisfactory and it has been suggested that aspirin is a drug appropriate to prevent thrombus or blood cooked.

All this is very beneficial to the countries of the Third World. In the case of India, for example, the proportion of infarction increases, but the resources for its treatment are scarce. The cost of thrombolytic drugs is out of the hand of almost all the population of the third world and their excrements. Aspirin is cheap. On the other hand, thrombolytic medications should be taken by intravenous injection or by dripping. Aspirin is ingested.

Another study indicates that aspirin can be very adequate to prevent the first infarction. This is demonstrated by the study of 22,071 physicians. Every doctor has taken 325 mg of aspirin every day to check if cardiovascular risk decreases. Result: the risk is reduced almost half.