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Increased
risk of Heart Attack or Stroke for
patients
who are resistant to aspirin
Newswise — Being resistant to aspirin makes
patients four times more likely to suffer a
heart attack, stroke or even die from a
pre-existing heart condition, according to a
study published on bmj.com today.
The study relates to patients who are
prescribed aspirin long term as a way of
preventing clots from forming in the blood.
Patients who are labelled “aspirin
resistant” have blood cells (platelets) that
are not affected in the same way as those of
patients who are responsive to the drug, ie
people who are “aspirin sensitive.”
There is currently no agreed method of
accurately determining who is and isn’t
aspirin resistant and the reasons why
someone might be aspirin resistant are
currently a cause of controversy.
Relatively few studies have looked at
whether aspirin resistance has any impact on
clinical outcome so the Canadian authors
carried out a review of all the available
data to better understand the relationship
between the two.
They identified 20 studies, involving 2,930
patients with cardiovascular disease, all of
whom had been prescribed aspirin as a way of
preventing clots from forming in the blood.
28% were classified as aspirin resistant.
They found that all aspirin resistant
patients, regardless of their underlying
clinical condition, were at greater risk of
suffering a heart attack, stroke or even
dying. In particular they found that 39% of
aspirin resistant patients compared to 16%
of aspirin sensitive patients suffered some
sort of cardiovascular event.
They also found that taking other drugs to
thin the blood, such as Clopidogrel or
Tirofiban, did not provide any benefit to
these patients.
The authors conclude that there needs to be
further studies on aspirin resistance to
identify the most useful test to determine
the condition. They also say aspirin
resistance: “is a biological entity that
should be considered when recommending
aspirin as antiplatelet therapy.”