Can aspirin alternatives reduce heart attack risk?

AORN Journal, July, 2004

A study published in the March 17, 2004, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology reveals that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (eg, ibuprofen, naproxen) may reduce the risk of heart attacks, but they may not help people already taking aspirin, according to a March 17, 2004, news release from the American College of Cardiology. Researchers interviewed 5,208 patients from 36 hospitals in a five-county region near Philadelphia. Of these, 1,055 had been treated for their first heart attack, and the remaining 4,153 served as the control group. Interviews were conducted via telephone. Researchers asked patients who had suffered heart attacks about aspirin or NSAID use the week before their heart attack. They questioned patients in the control group about their use of aspirin or NSAIDs the week before the interview.

For those patients who had not used aspirin, use of a nonaspirin NSAID was associated with a significant reduction in the number of heart attacks. For patients who did use aspirin, no difference in heart attacks was round between those who also used a nonaspirin NSAID and those who did not.

According to the researchers, these results should be useful for patients using NSAIDs for chronic pain relief who do not take aspirin for heart attack prevention. The researchers also noted that the heart effects of using NSAIDs would be best determined by a large, randomized trial but that a study of this magnitude likely will not be undertaken. The value of the current study, therefore, is that it examines use of over-the-counter medications, which many people use.

Study Clarifies Heart Effects of Aspirin Alternatives (news release, Bethesda, Md: American College of Cardiology, Match 17, 2004) http://www.acc.org/media/releases/ highlights/2004/mar04/clarifies.htm (accessed 29 March 2004).