Why use Aspirin?

Aspirin is considered a wonder drug in medicine because of its widespread use in treating a number of ailments. It is also prescribed by doctors in the treatment of heart problems.

Aspirin is termed as an effective weapon against heart disease due to its ability to prevent blood clotting. Heart attack occurs when a clot blocks a blood vessel. Blood clotting takes place when the platelets group together. But when Aspirin is consumed, it interferes with this process and prevents the platelets from grouping together by making them less sticky. This is done by inhibiting the manufacture of prostaglandins. Thus, it reduces the risk of heart disease. But in some cases, this same blood thinning action of Aspirin makes it unsuitable for patients to use this drug.  

Aspirin is recommended for patients who have suffered from myocardial infraction(heart attack), unstable Angina, Ischemic stroke (caused by blood clotting) or transient Ischemic attacks (mild strokes), if it is  not contraindicated. This is due to its efficiency in preventing the recurrence of Heart attack, Stroke and Angina on people at high risk of heart disease.  

The wonderful ability of Aspirin in saving lives earns its name- a wonder drug. Aspirin was found to be effective in helping people survive heart attacks if they had been consuming the recommended dosage regularly, after experiencing the first symptom of heart disease such as chest pain or any other signs of a heart attack. It was also found to be effective over placebo, as the risk of dying and recurrent heart attacks and strokes were cut short considerably in patients who consumed Aspirin daily for one month than those who were given placebo.

A study was conducted involving 22000 physicians who were separated into two groups, one consuming Aspirin daily and the other group consuming placebo. For the group taking Aspirin, the risk of a heart attack was cut by half and there were 104 heart attacks with five deaths while the other group had 189 heart attacks with 18 of them being fatal.

Thus, the demand for Aspirin increased and more studies were conducted emphasizing on the effects of Aspirin on heart diseases. Further, studies proved Aspirin to be effective in reducing the risk of a heart attack by twenty five percentage in women, if it were taken one to six times a week. Previously it was misunderstood that heart attacks would generally happen only to men, and hence women were excluded from research. But there are still some women who refuse to believe that this would occur to them and eventually fail to recognize the symptoms.  An analysis suggests that men from the age of 48 and women from the age of 57 have high chances of benefiting from Aspirin.  Thus, experts recommend that a daily dose of Aspirin can prevent heart attacks in middle age.  

The two main uses of Aspirin for prophylaxis of cardiovascular events are primary and secondary prevention. Primary prevention concerns the population having no diagnosed heart or vascular problems whereas secondary prevention concerns those having cardiovascular diseases. For secondary prevention, low doses of Aspirin are recommended. It almost lowers the occurrence of a heart-attack or stroke by one-fifth. Although it can give rise to a risk of hemorrhagic stroke and other major bleeds which are rare, the overall effect of Aspirin is positive.  Thus, Aspirin reduces mortality rate by about one-tenth.

Blood is supplied to the heart by coronary arteries. When Stents are placed in the coronary arteries, Aspirin will be recommended for a few months and even for years in the case of a coronary artery bypass graft.  When artificial grafts are sutured to the arteries to improve blood supply after vascular surgery, Aspirin is used as it helps to keep the grafts open. Generally Aspirin is prescribed lifelong for patients with coronary heart diseases as it is known to supplement treatment done on the heart such as stenting, bypass surgery etc. Aspirin is also prescribed lifelong for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, peripheral vascular diseases and strokes.

Patients who take Aspirin regularly are subject to a risk of stomach problems, including stomach bleeding. Consumption of alcohol may aggravate the risk of stomach problems. So it is always considered safe to avoid alcohol while taking Aspirin. Aspirin may also aggravate gastric ulcers causing nausea and internal bleeding. This bleeding can increase the risk of stroke. A patient may even suffer from a shock if he/she is allergic to it. 

Whenever the sign of a heart attack occurs, it should always be kept in mind to inform your doctor immediately. In spite of its widespread use in saving lives, it cannot be considered an alternative for stopping smoking, getting enough exercise or for lowering cholesterol levels.    

In spite of having side effects, Aspirin is still recommended because its benefits far outweigh its disadvantages.