Aspirin first boosts survival after heart attack

March 30, 2002

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters Health) - Heart attack patients who take a

dose of aspirin before taking clot-busting drugs are more likely to

survive than those who take the drugs in reverse order, researchers have

found. Overall, patients who took aspirin first were more likely to be

alive 7 days, 1 month and 1 year after their heart attack, the study

findings indicate.

It is not clear why the order makes a difference, but the " striking

reduction in mortality " may indicate that aspirin enhances the

restoration of blood flow to the heart, Dr. Dov Freimark of Sheba

Medical Center in Tel-Hashomer, Israel, and colleagues report in the

February 15th issue of the American Journal of Cardiology.

The investigators looked at data from a study of 1,200 heart attack

patients that was originally designed to compare two different types of

clot-dissolving agents. Ultimately the study found no difference between

those drugs, but the researchers noted that 70% of patients took aspirin

after a clot-buster and 30% took them in the reverse order. The

aspirin-first group took the pain reliever within the first 1.6 hours of

heart attack symptoms. The other patients took aspirin about 3.5 hours

after the onset of their heart attack symptoms and after other drugs

were administered.

Compared with the late-aspirin group, the early-aspirin users were more

likely to be alive at 7 days (2.5% versus 6%), 30 days (3% versus 7%)

and 1 year (5% versus 11%), the report indicates.

The authors emphasize the importance of their finding in light of the

fact that greater than 10% of heart attack patients are not given

aspirin, even though there is no reason to prevent the drug's use.

Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, claiming

over 720,000 lives each year, as well as over $320 billion in annual

healthcare costs. In addition, about 62 million Americans are currently

living with some form of cardiovascular disease.

SOURCE: The American Journal of Cardiology 2002;89:381-385.

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