Aspirin cuts deaths

Study finds drug taken regularly before illness boosts survival rate

PEOPLE who take drugs such as aspirin and warfarin prior to suffering a stroke are more likely to survive and avoid permanent disability, according to a new international study.

Scientists at Aberdeen University collaborated with researchers in the US and Canada to examine whether the use of anti-thrombotics – drugs which reduce the formation of blood clots – make patients more resilient to strokes.

The study, published in the American Heart Association’s journal, Stroke, analysed the medical data of more than half a million patients who had been admitted to hundreds of different hospitals across the US between October 2011 and March 2014 after suffering an acute ischaemic stroke.

This is the most common type, accounting for around 85 per cent of all strokes, and is caused when the blood supply to the brain is blocked by a blood clot.

It is already known that taking aspirin soon after suffering a stroke reduces the risk of death or disability, but the team found that people who had been taking these anti-clotting drugs regularly prior to suffering a stroke were 18 per cent less likely to die during their hospital stay and were 15 per cent more likely to be independently mobile at the time of discharge.

They were also 13 percent less likely to be left disabled.

Professor Phyo Myint, clinical chair in Medicine of Old Age at the Aberdeen University, who led the study said: “The results of this study show us that the benefit of the use of preventive medications which aim to thin the blood to prevent clot formation before stroke. We found the person who is on these drugs may still gain benefit of taking them even if the person developed a stroke due to blockage of brain artery by a blood clot.

“Possible mechanisms may include being less likely to develop big strokes due to smaller blood clot formation, preventing increase in clot size after initial blockage, and reduction in risk of formation of subsequent clots. We see this benefit regardless of whether previous vascular indication such as previous heart attack was present or not.”

In Scotland, there are around 4,000 stroke deaths per year, but a further 20,000 people a year survive strokes. Previous studies have produced conflicting results on the benefits of taking anti-thrombotic drugs such as warfarin and aspirin prior to suffering a stroke.

One study found no evidence of reduced mortality up to one year after stroke presentation. In contrast, another study conducted in Canada reported that prior use of anti-thrombotics was associated with a better recovery.

Aspirin has been long-associated with reducing the risk of heart attacks but more recently the household drug has been credited as a potential barrier to everything from bowel and prostate cancer to Alzheimer’s disease. However, aspirin can cause serious side effects such as ulcers and bleeding from the stomach.

Prof Myint said he hoped the new findings backed up the case to prescribe aspirin or warfarin pre-emptively to patients at risk of stroke, such as over-65s or people with high blood pressure.