Long-term Aspirin for Coronary Artery Disease?

Tags: Real Evidence for Long-Term Use of Aspirin for Coronary Artery Disease?

The hiring of University Medical Researchers as Consultants for Drug Companies had led to many conflicts of interest which in some cases resulted in egregious harm to patients taking these drugs. Even the funding of the FDA to carry out drug evaluations by the producers of the drugs has also introduced conflicts of interest in their evaluations.

In the last decades we had lobbyists from the drug companies place in the FDA at high positions to actually influencing decisions on the safety of drugs such as Vioxx and Genetically Modified Organisms GMO food products which has never really been tested except by the manufacturer of food crops containing plant genes modified by genes from fish and other species completely unrelated to the original plant. The addition of these genes is basically a random process and no control on where the gene is place on the chromosome or which chromosome in the plant DNA.

Is the food different physiologically? No study has been done, but I and others have experienced diarrhea for GMO soybeans used to make Tofu. Organic Tofu does not give me diarrhea, a food I had eaten all my life. The Japanese who eat lots of Tofu in Japan created a market for organic tofu so it is relatively cheap. Of course we do know this process does make toxic corn which inadvertently got into the human food system. I recall that it is fed to cows.

I have avoided aspirin because it raises the blood pressure of our kidneys which can lead to future harm, but not the blood pressure, as far as I know, that we take each time we visit our doctors.

A subcommittee headed by the retiring congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) revealed many of the deceptive advertising commercials pervasive on television. Don't ask for these drugs when you visit your doctor. Doctor's are very busy and often do not know enough about the side effects which may not surface for 5 to 7 years causing great harm as did Vioxx. In this case Merck personnel wrote the Medical Journal article under the name of their consultant physician to claim that it was safe. If you can, wait seven years before you consider taking a new drug.

Jim Kawakami, May 27, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Long-Term Aspirin for Coronary Artery Disease Dependent on Biased Evidence?

John GF Cleland

Authors and Disclosures

Posted: 04/15/2010; Future Cardiology. 2010;6(2):141-146. © 2010 Future Medicine Ltd.

Abstract and Introduction

1. Aspirin Fallacies: Is there a Sound Biological Rationale for Aspirin?
2. Is Long-term Aspirin Therapy Effective?
3. Is Aspirin Safe?

1. Is the Correct Dose of Aspirin Known?
2. Is Aspirin an Appropriate Background Therapy for Other Anti-thrombotic Agents?
3. Has the Introduction of New Treatments Altered the Efficacy of Aspirin?
4. Inexpensive?
5. Is Aspirin Free from Commercial Interest?

1. References

Abstract and Introduction

Introduction

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/719632 A recent meta-analysis concluded that considerable uncertainty exists regarding the wisdom of giving aspirin for the prevention of a first vascular event in populations who are at a low or intermediate cardiovascular risk.[1] This meta-analysis did not include three recent primary prevention trials[2–4] – these were resoundingly neutral or showed evidence of harm. A substantial segment of the medical community was surprised at this, with their reactions ranging from disbelief to anger. However, they would not have been surprised had they carefully read the original reports used by the meta-analysis and considered other relevant studies, such as the Pulmonary Embolism Prevention trial[5] (n = 13,356), which showed a 33% increase (hazard ratio: 1.33 [95% CI: 1.00–1.78]; p = 0.05) in the risk of fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction in patients who were assigned to receive aspirin rather than placebo after a hip fracture (an elderly group of patients who had a high prevalence of occult coronary disease).

The Antiplatelet Trialists[1] recently stated that:

"Low-dose aspirin is of definite and substantial net benefit for many people who already have occlusive vascular disease."

However, this organization has strongly promoted aspirin use and stifled any contrary opinion.[6] The data entered into this meta-analysis are different from those reported in the trials themselves.[6] Changing the data after a study is complete is incorrect and may cause bias.

Many doctors have been deceived by biased reporting in the literature, which is a blight on the editorial reputation of many of the most eminent medical journals.[7,8] It is not clear whether editors were duped by cleverly written manuscripts or were seduced by preconceived notions regarding the efficacy of aspirin. However, the aspirin story is now unraveling.[9] Guideline groups on both sides of the Atlantic no longer recommend aspirin use in patients with heart failure, even if they have coronary disease.[10,11] It is likely that further trials will be conducted to either refute or confirm the safety and efficacy of long-term aspirin use in other clinical settings. Those promoting aspirin as part of a 'polypill' approach to cardiovascular risk should be alert to these issues and, if they are genuinely concerned about patients' well-being, clinical science should be at the forefront of designing appropriate randomized placebo-controlled trials in order to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the aspirin component.[12] …

Aspirin Fallacies: Is there a Sound Biological Rationale for Aspirin?

All hypotheses depend upon perspective. If coronary events are initiated by platelet aggregation and thrombosis, then it does make sense to use aspirin. On the other hand, if events are triggered by hemorrhage into plaque, an anti-thrombotic agent sounds rather dangerous. Plaque hemorrhage, rupture and thrombosis are likely to be inextricably intertwined for vascular occlusion-initiating events and plaque hemorrhage may be an important component of plaque growth. There is moderately compelling evidence that low-dose aspirin accelerates the progression of atheroma.[13,14] Once an event has occurred, most patients will develop an ulcerated plaque and thrombus, providing a theoretical substrate for the short-term benefit of aspirin.[15] Once the ulcer has healed, continued aspirin therapy may impair vessel wall defences against further events by blocking vasodilator prostaglandin production, thereby neutralizing any antiplatelet effects, explaining the neutral outcome in most long-term studies of aspirin and an increase in coronary events in some.[5] Logically, aspirin should be given until the vascular ulcer has healed and should then be stopped. Unfortunately, theoretical reasoning is a poor guide to the effects of drugs in clinical practice. Only clinical trials can tell which theories work in practice, and even then, the mechanism of benefit may not be clear. The aspirin data are entirely consistent with a benefit from a short-term course (4–12 weeks) of aspirin after a coronary event, after which the aspirin can and perhaps should be stopped in order to maximize benefit.[16] …