If you’ve had a heart attack, your doctor likely told you to take a low-dose aspirin daily to stave off a second heart attack or stroke. Unfortunately, most people don’t follow through with this advice over the long term. And because of that, they’re more likely to have another heart attack or stroke than their counterparts who consistently take aspirin.
Aspirin keeps platelets from clumping together, which can help prevent or reduce the blood clots that may cause heart attack or stroke.
A study led by Dr. Anna Meta Kristensen of Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital in Frederiksberg, Denmark, followed more than 40,100 people ages 40 or older who had a first-time heart attack. The researchers checked on aspirin use two, four, six, and eight years after the subjects’ heart attacks to see who was still taking daily aspirin regularly. Anyone using other blood thinners was not included in the study.
At two years, 90 percent of heart attack survivors were still taking daily aspirin consistently; that fell to 84 percent at four years, 82 percent at six years, and 81 percent at eight years.
At four years, the risk for nonadherent patients was 40 percent more than those who took low-dose aspirin as prescribed. And people who didn’t take aspirin consistently were more likely to have another heart attack, a stroke, or die at all follow-up points.