Aspirin's two conflicting sides

The era of modern pharmaceuticals began in 1900 when the first aspirin tablets were manufactured by a German company called the Friedrich Bayer Corporation. Ninety years later, the Harvard Medical School research known as the Physicians Health Study concluded that men who take aspirin on a regular basis may significantly reduce the risk of a heart attack. Over the course of those nine decades, aspirin gained a reputation as the wonder drug of the 20th century. And while aspirin has relieved many a headache and does seem to provide heart health benefits for some, a new study reveals that certain heart patients (those who have already suffered a heart attack) may actually be at greater risk of heart attacks if they use aspirin.

Benefit vs. risk

After a patient experiences a first heart attack or stroke that's triggered by thrombosis (a blood clot in the heart or a blood vessel), many doctors prescribe an anti-thrombotic regimen of aspirin or warfarin, a prescription blood thinner. But the risks and benefits of these therapies have not been fully explored. As reported in the July 2004 issue of the American Heart Journal, UK researchers at the University of Hull divided 279 subjects from the Warfarin/Aspirin Study in Heart failure (WASH) into three groups: one group received 300 mg of aspirin daily, one received a standard daily dose of warfarin, and a third group received placebo. Each of the subjects had experienced either heart attack or stroke, prompted by thrombosis. After an average follow up period of more than two years, the researchers found that neither the aspirin nor the warfarin therapies provided any greater protection against death, nonfatal stroke, or nonfatal heart attacks than the placebo. Subjects that received aspirin therapy, however, were nearly twice as likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke as those who took warfarin or placebo. Gastrointestinal problems were also elevated in the aspirin group.

Putting on the breaks

Of course, this isn't the first time we've encountered problems with the wonder drug of the 20th century in the context of heart health. In reviewing more than 1,200 cases of coronary episodes, researchers found 51 patients who suffered heart attacks or other severe coronary problems less than one week after they stopped using aspirin. Subjects with a history of heart disease were at particularly read more