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Stopping Aspirin Treatment Raises Cardiovascular Risk By Over a Third
Curated by Claudia Shannon / Research Scientist / ishonest
Researchers led by Johan Sundström, a professor of epidemiology at Uppsala University in Sweden, set out to examine the effect of stopping low-dose aspirin treatment on the odds of having a second heart attack or stroke.
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommend that people at risk of having a heart attack take low-dose aspirin preventively. Aspirin is also recommended by the AHA to heart attack and stroke survivors, in order to avoid recurrence.
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These patients discontinue their treatment during the first 1 to 3 years after the initial cardiovascular event. But what is the effect of stopping treatment? The new research investigates.
Quitting aspirin raises risk by 37 percent
Prof. Sundström and his colleagues examined the medical records of 601,527 people aged 40 and above who did not have a history of cancer and took aspirin in low doses to prevent either a first or a second heart attack or stroke between 2005 and 2009.
The treatment adherence among this population sample was 80 percent in the first year.
Cardiovascular events were defined as myocardial infarction, which is more commonly known as a heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death. Over the follow-up period, 62,690 cardiovascular events were recorded.
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Those who stopped the aspirin treatment were 37 percent more likely to have an adverse cardiovascular event than those who continued the therapy. This is equivalent to 1 in every 74 patients who quit aspirin having a heart attack, a stroke, or dying as a result of a cardiovascular event.
As this is an observational study, it cannot explain causality. However, the team has considered the possibility that stopping aspirin may cause a so-called rebound effect.
This refers to the possibility that stopping aspirin, which has blood-thinning properties, may have blood-clotting effects after discontinuation. Some experimental studies have supported this theory.
“Low-dose aspirin therapy is a simple and inexpensive treatment […] As long as there’s no bleeding or any major surgery scheduled, our research shows the significant public health benefits that can be gained when patients stay on aspirin therapy.”
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Prof. Johan Sundström
“We hope,” he adds, “our research may help physicians, healthcare providers, and patients make informed decisions on whether or not to stop aspirin use.”
Strengths and limitations of the study
The study investigated a large national population sample, which totaled more than 60,000 cardiovascular events.
Researchers had access to all of the Swedish patients who took low-dose aspirin in the long run, as they did to “high-precision” medical registers that helped them to determine long-term outcomes of discontinuing the treatment.
The researchers also note the risk of reverse causation – that is, the possibility that patients who discontinued the treatment may already have been predisposed to premature death.
