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News--
Yes, Aspirin Does Prevent Heart Attacks
by By Megan Rauscher Sept 30, 2003

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The "current totality of evidence" strongly supports the notion that taking aspirin regularly can prevent a first heart attack.

Aspirin reduces the risk of a first heart attack "by about one-third," Hennekens told Reuters Health.

As far back as 1988, the Physician's Health Study involving some 22,000 participants showed that taking aspiring led to a "statistically extreme" 44-percent reduction in the risk of a first heart attack, the investigators note in their report.

On the heels of this study, however, the British Doctors' Trial, involving about 5100 men, failed to show a similar benefit.

Subsequently, three additional clinical trials looking at aspirin for the prevention of first heart attacks were published. Participants in at least one of the trials had one or more major risk factors for heart disease.

Hennekens and colleagues analyzed the pooled results from all five trials, finding that among the 55,000 apparently healthy participants, aspirin therapy was tied a significant 32-percent reduction in the risk of a first heart attack.

Aspirin therapy also reduced the risk of "all important vascular events" by 15 percent. However, the numbers of strokes and deaths from vascular disease occurring in the five trials were "insufficient to yield conclusive results," according the team.

Despite the benefits, aspirin is not risk-free and shouldn't be taken unless the pros outweigh the cons. "Any apparently healthy person (i.e., without a history of cardiovascular disease) contemplating aspirin should see their healthcare provider," Hennekens advised.

SOURCE: September 22nd issue of Archives of Internal Medicine 2003.

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