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BETHESDA, Md., Mar 30, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Aspirin is safer and as effective as the anticoagulant warfarin to prevent strokes, scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health said Wednesday.
In a double-blind, randomized clinical trial, researchers compared warfarin to 1,300 milligrams per day of aspirin in 569 patients for an average of 1.8 years.
During the trial about 22 percent of patients had a stroke, brain hemorrhage, or died from blood vessel-related causes. The rates of major hemorrhage and death from all causes were higher in the warfarin patients, with 8.3 percent experiencing a major hemorrhage as compared to 3.2 percent of the aspirin patients. A total of 9.7 percent of the warfarin patients died vs. 4.3 percent of the aspirin patients.
"This trial is good news. A simple low-cost drug works just as well as one that requires complicated and expensive monitoring and dose adjustments," wrote Dr. John R. Marler, associate director for clinical trials at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
The study appears in the March 31 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International.
