Don’t rely on aspirin to stave off strokes

DURING the past few years, stroke has made headline news, given a higher profile by the NHS’s Act FAST campaign and the willingness of victims such as BBC journalist Andrew Marr to talk about their experience.

Stroke is the third highest cause of death in England. Smoking and high blood pressure are the factors most often cited as causes – but a less well-publicised cause is an irregular heartbeat caused by atrial fibrillation, or AF.

The condition causes turbulence within the blood flow in the heart, allowing clots to form. Fragments can travel to the brain, triggering an often devastating stroke.

It is estimated that more than 7,000 strokes could be prevented each year if AF were better managed.

Treatment aims to thin the blood so the stroke-causing clots cannot form. As a result, a large number of patients in the UK take warfarin, the blood-thinner of choice for the past 50 years.

Many patients are unable to tolerate warfarin and are put on to aspirin as a substitute. However, it is actually no substitute.

New guidance about AF from NICE this month will confirm this. They say either warfarin or the newer anticoagulant drugs known as NOACs should be prescribed. So what next for patients? Well, make sure your GP takes your pulse next time you are there to ensure it is regular. AF is thought to affect at least a million people in England and Wales, so it is worth the ten-second check.

And if you are on aspirin for AF, discuss starting a newer tablet. It is thought 300,000 patients will need to change treatment once the guidance is published.