Posted on 10/28/2022 11:16:38 AM PDT by Red Badger
The study was funded by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
These results highlight how crucial it is to only take aspirin on your doctor’s orders and to hold off starting any over-the-counter medications like aspirin until you have discussed whether the expected benefit outweighs the risk.
According to recent research, stopping the use of aspirin while taking a blood thinner reduces the risk of bleeding.
Recent research indicates that you might not need to take a second blood thinner if you already take one.
In fact, a Michigan Medicine study reveals that patients’ risk of bleeding complications significantly decreases when they stop taking aspirin while using a commonly prescribed blood thinner.
Over 6,700 patients who were being treated for blood clots (venous thromboembolism) and atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm that can lead to stroke) at anticoagulation clinics in Michigan were studied by researchers. Despite not having a history of heart disease, patients were given aspirin in addition to the common blood thinner warfarin as part of their treatment.
“We know that aspirin is not a panacea drug as it was once thought to be and can in fact lead to more bleeding events in some of these patients, so we worked with the clinics to reduce aspirin use among patients for whom it might not be necessary,” said Geoffrey Barnes, M.D., senior author of the study and a cardiologist at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center.
Aspirin use among patients fell by 46.6% during the study intervention. The risk of a bleeding complication decreased by 32.3% when aspirin was used less frequently, which equates to one major bleeding event being averted for every 1,000 patients who stop taking aspirin. The study was recently published in the journal JAMA Network Open.
“When we started this study, there was already an effort by doctors to reduce aspirin use, and our findings show that accelerating that reduction prevents serious bleeding complications which, in turn, can be lifesaving for patients,” said Barnes, who is also an associate professor of internal medicine at U-M Medical School. “It’s really important for physicians and health systems to be more cognizant about when patients on a blood thinner should and should not be using aspirin.”
This de-escalation of aspirin use is based on several studies that found concerning links between the concurrent use of aspirin and different blood thinners.
One study reported that patients taking warfarin and aspirin for atrial fibrillation and VTE experienced more major bleeding events and had more ER visits for bleeding than those taking warfarin alone. Similar results occurred for patients taking aspirin and direct oral anticoagulants – who were found more likely to have a bleeding event but not less likely to have a blood clot.
“While aspirin is an incredibly important medicine, it has a less widely used role than it did a decade ago,” Barnes said. “But with each study, we are seeing that there are far fewer cases in which patients who are already on an anticoagulant are seeing benefit by adding aspirin on top of that treatment. The blood thinner they are taking is already providing some protection from clots forming.”
For some people, aspirin can be lifesaving. Many patients who have a history of ischemic stroke, heart attack, or a stent placed in the heart to improve blood flow – as well as those with a history of cardiovascular disease – benefit from the medication.
The challenge comes when some people take aspirin without a history of cardiovascular disease and are also prescribed an anticoagulant, said first author Jordan Schaefer, M.D., a hematologist at U-M Health and clinical associate professor of internal medicine at U-M Medical School.
“Many of these people were likely taking aspirin for primary prevention of heart attack or stroke, which we now know is less effective than once believed, and no one took them off of it when they started warfarin,” Schaefer said. “These findings show how important it is to only take aspirin under the direction of your doctor and not to start taking over-the-counter medicines like aspirin until you review with your care team if the expected benefit outweighs the risk.”
Reference: “Assessment of an Intervention to Reduce Aspirin Prescribing for Patients Receiving Warfarin for Anticoagulation” by Jordan K. Schaefer, MD, Josh Errickson, Ph.D., Xiaokui Gu, MD, MA, Tina Alexandris-Souphis, RN, Mona A. Ali, PharmD, Brian Haymart, RN, MS, Scott Kaatz, DO, MSc, Eva Kline-Rogers, MS, RN, NP, Jay H. Kozlowski, MD, Gregory D. Krol, MD, Vinay Shah, MD, Suman L. Sood, MD, MSCE, James B. Froehlich, MD, MPH and Geoffrey D. Barnes, MD, MS, 19 September 2022, JAMA Network Open. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.31973
I have 5 heart stents, so the daily 81mg Ecotrin aspirin is recommended as part of my 36 pill regimen — 19 in morning, 18 in evening, daily.
Or live in a house with no door locks , plug protectors. Jump from the top of the steps to the floor. Walk for miles with no cell phone. Play kick the can in the street.
Us boomers were cut out of different cloth
We used to jump off a fire escape 2 stories up and land in the bushes below just, because.
Try heprin.
My belly was black and blue for weeks.
Oh gee, you mean taking two blood thinners at once increases your chances of bleeding by thinning your blood?
Well hurry and alert the media!
Good grief.
The stupid.
It burns.
Bull$hit. This all out attack on aspirin started the minute it was first identified as useful for covid.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8556685/
Aspirin has been a miracle drug for a century +. The minute it was suggested as one of the therapies for covid, it was attacked all out. Anything that is part of a treatment protocol is a threat to the “vaccine”.
“unexpected” effects of taking aspirin...
Who’s really behind this?
Tylenol again?
IOW, Captain Obvious.
Probably because all the idiots out there believe the snake-oil salesmen that you can take anything that’s on the shelf and you’ll be just fine.
The point is if you’re taking a blood thinner, you don’t need more - which can lead to - uncontrolled bleeding.
So, DON’T take ginger if you’re on some already.
It wasn’t just Boomers.
When was that?
Good God, we do finger pricks for it now.
You can prick your finger, but don't.......
Blue Cross Blue Shield is a health insurance company so why would they do a study? I haven’t had time to figure out the underlying reasons but I’m sure it’s money related and has nothing to do with your actual health. I take one 81 MG aspirin a day. No blood thinners. As per instruction of my doctor.
No, it’s been under attack since the ‘70s when Tylenol wanted to dethrone it.
They cut aspirin shares heavily by convincing us all that children should never ever have aspirin due to very rare Reye’s Syndrome.
It’s gotten so bad that the Bayer ad recently where the guy on the plane is in pain reacts to the stewardess (yes, that’s the old way and I’m sticking to it) offering aspirin, by stupidly declaring he’s “not having a heart attack”.
Good God, no one knows anymore it was MEANT for PAIN and FEVER?
Tylenol did its snow job!
20 years ago we were told taken every day it would help you avoid strokes and heart attacks
Probably prompted by Tylenol.
They don’t like aspirin found a way to get back market share since the “children” ban.
Which is another of a series of reports for or against this natural product.
It’s only over doubling up over a stronger blood thinner.
One of my father’s favorite jokes was about a man who goes into a drugstore and asks the pharmacist for acetyl salicylic acid. The pharmacist asks him, “You mean aspirin?” The man says, “Yes...I can never remember that name.”
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