Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MIAMI, Sep 23, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A new study by the Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute reconfirms aspirin reduces the risk of a first heart attack by 32 percent.
The research, appearing in Archives of Internal Medicine, is based on a meta-analysis of five major randomized clinical trials involving 55,580 participants. It found aspirin reduces the combined risk of heart attack, stroke and vascular death by 15 percent.
Dr. Charles H. Hennekens, co-director of cardiovascular research at the medical center, first demonstrated the benefit of aspirin in reducing the risk of a first heart attack in a landmark 1988 study. Under his direction, Dr. Rachel Eidelman, a cardiology fellow at MSMC-MHI, performed the latest meta-analysis.
Said Hennekens: The more widespread and appropriate use of aspirin in primary prevention could avoid hundreds of thousands of first heart attacks and important vascular events each year in the U.S.
"This data, along with the findings that aspirin reduces the risk of death by 23 percent if given during a heart attack and by 15 percent in a wide range of people who have survived prior cardiovascular events, demonstrate the need for wider utilization of aspirin."
Copyright 2003 by United Press International.
