Aspirin on the counter? Benefits, almost identical risks

Although aspirin can help prevent heart disease, it can cause bleeding in other parts of the body because it dilutes the blood, doctors added, adding that no medication should be taken over the counter.

The concept has been controversial and the medical opinion mixed. A review of the scientific evidence on the subject has shown that the benefits are minimal and counterbalanced by a corresponding increase in the risk of bleeding.

Aspirin is an anticoagulant that can help prevent clots that can lead to a heart attack or stroke. But aspirin also increases the risk of hemorrhage in the brain, stomach and intestines.

"Considering all the evidence, the cardiovascular benefits badociated with aspirin were modest and also balanced by major bleeding," says the report in the journal of the American Medical Association.

The meta-badysis examined 10 previous studies involving a total of more than 164,000 people aged 62 on average.

Comparing aspirin users to those who do not take it, the researchers found "significant reductions" in stroke, heart attack and death from cardiovascular disease among those who took anti-inflammatory drugs. 39; aspirin.

The use of aspirin was also linked to an increased risk of "major haemorrhages compared to the absence of aspirin," he said. Statistically, the benefits were close to the risks.

Dr. Sanjay Rajdev, consultant in interventional cardiology at NMC Specialty Hospital in Abu Dhabi, said that primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, ie; heart attack (myocardial infarction), stroke, and cardiovascular death are controversial.

"As a cardiologist, I see patients every day following their aspirin treatment and most of them come out well." However, the underlying benefit comes largely from their high-risk clinical substrate.

"Many of these patients have received a stent or bypbad, many have suffered heart attacks and many of them are victims of a stroke or peripheral vascular disease. inherent adverse cardiovascular events is so high that they benefit by default from the fluidification of blood, induced by aspirin, "explained the doctor.

"What is misunderstood, however, is the hemorrhagic potential of baby aspirin.

While the risk of bleeding is justified in a large cohort of sick people who tend to benefit more from using aspirin than if they did not take it. The same philosophy can not be applied to a general part of the population whose risk of ischemic events is much less than that of people with overt or overt heart or vascular disease, "said Dr. Rajdev.

Basically, the risk of bleeding and the reduction of ischemic risk are the same. "It is therefore imperative to select a population that should benefit from a reduction in ischemic events.For this reason, it would be counterproductive to give a mbadive prescription for aspirin," he explained.

"Diabetes mellitus is another risk factor for which one can get aspirin in. If a diabetic patient over 60 suffers from one or more additional risk factors, primary prevention is appropriate. "

Dr. Rajdev said that one uncertainty lies in the complete understanding of the burden of plaque within the coronary and outside the asymptomatic population in general.

"Until this happens, the decision to consume aspirin for primary prevention depends on the risk of underlying ischemic heart disease.The higher the risk, the greater the use of the drug. Aspirin for primary prevention is justifiable, "he said.

According to the World Health Organization, heart disease is the leading cause of death among the world's population, killing 17.9 million people a year, one-third of all deaths. Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United Arab Emirates, accounting for more than two-thirds of all deaths.

Sean Zheng, a cardiologist at King's College Hospital and senior author of the JAMA report, said the public might not understand that taking a low dose, or aspirin for baby, involves significant risks. The study also examined the preventive benefits of aspirin in cancer and revealed "no overall badociation between the use of aspirin and incident cancer or the cancer mortality ".

Dr. Layla Al Marzooqi, a specialist in cardiology at Al Zahra Hospital in Dubai, said: "No one should start taking any medications without consulting a doctor." Aspirin can be taken at any time. opportunity to relieve pain (for a headache for example) or a fever of short duration, but not regularly without the doctor's advice, she said.

Dr. Layla said that there are many studies from different countries around the world on the benefits and risks of taking aspirin in healthy people.

"Some people take aspirin in healthy people, others do not … I encourage not taking prophylactic aspirin in healthy people" she added.

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