Aspirin should be taken daily by Heart attack patients to avoid a new heart attack, stroke and death

Heart attack patients who do not take daily aspirin have an elevated likelihood of recurrent myocardial infarction, stroke or death compared with those who consistently take the drug, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2023.

Because aspirin prevents the formation of blood clots, it also increases the risk of bleeding, and the balance between the cardiovascular benefits and bleeding changes with time after a heart attack. The study used data from Danish nationwide health registries. It included patients aged 40 years and over who had a first-time heart attack from 2004 through 2017, were treated with a coronary stent, and took aspirin as prescribed during the first year after their heart attack.

The researchers analyzed whether patients who did not take aspirin as prescribed had a higher risk of the composite outcome of recurrent heart attack, stroke, or death compared with those who consistently took aspirin. A number of factors that might affect the results were taken into account including age, sex, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, kidney disease, cancer, stomach ulcers, previous bleeding events, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

At each time point, patients who took aspirin as prescribed were less likely to experience the composite outcome compared with non-adherent patients. Compared with adherent patients, non-adherent patients had a 29%, 40%, 31%, and 20% higher likelihood of recurrent heart attack, stroke, or death at two, four, six, and eight years following the heart attack, respectively.

Reference: Dr. Anna Meta Kristensen et al, European Society of Cardiology