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For Immediate Release
January 11, 2002
(Washington, DC) January 12, 2002 - The Aspirin Foundation of America (AFA) today responded to a British Medical Journal study finding that antiplatelet therapy - including aspirin therapy - is underprescribed among those patients at risk of cardiovascular events or stroke (including patients who have had a heart attack, stroke, angina or peripheral artery disease).
The meta-analysis - which involved 287 trials and over 200,000 patients - found that antiplatelet therapy reduced the risk of any serious vascular event by about one quarter; non-fatal heart attack by about one third; non-fatal stroke by one quarter; and vascular death by one sixth.
Yet less than half of all patients with a history of cardiovascular events are receiving antiplatelet therapy even though, according to the British Medical Journal, its benefits "far outweigh any hazards." The new analysis was performed by the Antithrombotic Trialists' Collaboration, of Oxford, England.
"These findings should serve as a wake-up call to doctors treating patients at risk of heart attack and stroke," said Thomas Bryant, MD, president of the Aspirin Foundation of America. "It is disconcerting that a regimen so thoroughly proven to be beneficial is underused. The AFA encourages physicians to consider antiplatelet therapy - including aspirin therapy - for those at risk of heart disease or stroke," he said.
The Foundation stressed the importance of consulting a doctor before beginning aspirin therapy for cardiovascular protection.
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Contact:
Caroline Perrin
807 National Press Building, Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 800-432-3247 Fax: 202/737-8406
info@aspirin.org
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