Taking aspirin every day may lower the risk of heart attack and stroke. Yet daily aspirin therapy isn’t for everyone. Is it right for you? The answer depends on your age, overall health, history of heart disease, and risk of heart attacks or strokes.
On this weekly health feature, Channel 15 Health editor Maureen Mutie sits down with Dr Harrison Mumo of Machakos Doctors Plaza Center to discuss why senior citizens need a dose of Aspirins close with them.
According to Dr Mumo daily aspirin therapy may be used in two ways, one being primary prevention.
This means you’ve never had a heart attack or stroke. You’ve never had coronary bypass surgery or coronary angioplasty with stent placement. You’ve never had blocked arteries in your neck, legs or other parts of the body. But you take a daily aspirin to prevent such heart events. The benefit of aspirin for this use has been debated.
Secondary prevention means you’ve already had a heart attack or stroke, or you have known heart or blood vessel disease. You’re taking a daily aspirin to prevent heart attacks or strokes. The benefit of daily aspirin therapy in this situation is well established.
When asked whether it’s okay to to take a daily aspirin, Dr Harrison cautions unauthorized aspirin without talking to a health care provider. He however adds that taking an occasional aspirin or two is usually safe for most adults to use for headaches, body aches or fever. But daily use of aspirin can have serious side effects, including gastrointestinal bleeding.
“As a person gets older, their risk of heart attack and stroke increases. However, the risk of bleeding from aspirin goes up even more. So, in people who have a low risk of heart attack, the benefits of taking a daily aspirin don’t outweigh the risks of bleeding. The higher the risk of heart attack, the more likely it is that the benefits of daily aspirin therapy are greater than the bleeding risks.” Adds Dr Mumo.
According to Dr Mumo, if you’re between ages 60 and 69, one should seek advice from a respectable health care provider on how daily aspirin therapy may affect them.
However, he cautions that for those between ages 40 and 59 that they are at high risk of having a first-time heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years. High risk means risk is 10% or greater.
“You haven’t had a heart attack, but you’ve had coronary bypass surgery or a stent placed in a heart artery, or you have chest pain called angina or any other medical condition where aspirin is proved to prevent heart attacks or stroke.
You’re younger than 60 and you have diabetes and at least one other heart disease risk factor, such as smoking or high blood pressure.
If you’ve had a heart attack or stroke or you have known heart disease, your health care provider may recommend taking an aspirin a day to prevent heart attacks or strokes unless you have a serious allergy or history of bleeding.” Cautions Dr Mumo
But how does aspirin prevent a heart attack? Our health editor posed ?
Dr Mumo says aspirin affects how blood clots.
“When a person bleeds, clotting cells called platelets go to the site of the wound. The platelets help plug the opening in the blood vessel. This stops bleeding.
Sometimes such clots occur inside a damaged heart artery. The clot prevents blood flow to the heart and causes a heart attack. Having a condition called atherosclerosis increases the risk of these types of clots.
Since aspirin reduces clotting action, it’s thought that daily aspirin therapy could possibly prevent a heart attack.” He adds
Maureen Mutie is a final year KMTC student at KMTC Machakos pursuing a diploma in Nursing and is a part-time blogger and health Correspondent at Channel 15 Digital
