| ASPIRIN - "Current Standard Therapy" for Cardiovascular Risks |
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The role of Aspirin, as the great antiplatelet treatment, is powerful in preventing the heart attack and stroke, as per the study results presented at the 55th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in Atlanta.
The study is formally known as the Clopidogrel for High Atherothrombotic Risk and Ischemic Stabilization, Management, and Avoidance (CHARISMA) which confirms the advantageous benefit-to-risk and benefit-to-cost ratio of aspirin in the treatment and prevention of cardio attack and stroke.
By affirming, that the aspirin is the foremost among the antiplatelet treatment the researchers have made the evidences, supporting aspirin’s role in cardio prevention, more powerful.
Benefits of the aspirin have been demonstrated in more than 200 trials involving over 200,000 patients. The latest study was conducted on the patients with more stable cardiovascular disease -- defined by a previous heart attack or stroke, or evidence of poor blood supply to the legs - and the patients with risk factors for future atherosclerosis, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
However, the study showed that adding the blood-thinning drug clopidogrel -- commercially known as Plavix, to a daily dose of aspirin have no significant benefits in a wide range of patients.
The study’s lead investigator, Dr. Deepak Bhatt said, "The overall findings were negative, but a benefit was seen in patients with established cardiovascular disease." Bhatt is also an associate director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center.
The study conducted on more than 15000 patients showed that the combination of Plavix and Aspirin is more harmful for patients at risk of developing heart disease, but it can be helpful for those patients who already have suffered with cardio attacks.
Dr. Charles Hennekens, Professor of medicine, epidemiology and public Health at the University of Miami School, of Medicine, marked the aspirin with "the gold standard" for treating heart risk. On the other hand Plavix is the "current standard therapy" to prevent blood clots that can cause a heart attack, unstable angina, or stroke. Aspirin which is also a blood thinner acts on a different platelet structure which has more powerful effects as compare to Plavix which has been proven to preclude second heart attacks, strokes and death among patients with intense cardio disease, in earlier trials.
Aspirin’s capability to forbid the cardio attacks in men is renowned but it is not so effective in their risk of stroke. On the other side in women it prevents the strokes but reduces the cardio attack risks only in those who are 65 or older in age. Combining Plavix and Aspirin reduces the risk of a second attack or the death of the patients being treated for the cardio attack.
After the 28-month follow-up, the trial has outcome with the facts that the combined rate of death, heart attack or stroke is 7.3 percent in the group taking placebo plus aspirin, compared with 6.8 percent for patients on Plavix plus aspirin. The insignificant difference has been shown in the ratio.
The study revealed that the addition of Plavix reduced the rate of hospitalization from 17.9 % to 16.7 %. And, when the case study was limited to the 12,153 patients with heart disease, it reduced the combined rate of death, heart attack, or stroke from 7.9 %to 6.9 %.
Adding to it, the rate of moderate-to-severe bleeding was enlarged in the patients taking clopidogrel or Plavix with aspirin compared to the rate in those taking only Aspirin. Bhatt said, "Aspirin is tough to beat, but it too has bleeding risk."
Still, aspirin is believed to be renowned treatment across wide cardiovascular risks, because of its proven effectivity, safety and cost-effectiveness.
However, some companies, including AstraZeneca Plc and Eli Lilly and Co. are in the process to develop the latent competitors to Plavix.
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