Risk: Millions of adults taking a daily dose of aspirin to ward off heart attacks may be significantly increasing their risk, new research shows
Millions of adults taking a daily dose of aspirin to ward off heart attacks may be significantly increasing their risk, new research shows.
Nearly a quarter of adults – 23 per cent – have been found to carry a gene which, when combined with the painkiller, makes them nearly twice as likely to suffer a heart attack.
It means about one in 100 with the gene who take the drug may suffer from heart problems that could have been prevented, researchers say.
While past studies have shown taking aspirin can increase the risk of potentially life-threatening internal bleeding, this study, by scientists at Harvard University in the US, is the first to link dangers from the drug with gene variations.
Dr Kathryn Hall, the report’s lead author, said: ‘We need to look at ourselves as individuals, a certain constellation of genes, and to take that into consideration. If the research is validated in further study, it would be the logical next step to test everyone for these genes before giving them aspirin.’
Government figures show there were 30.9 million NHS prescriptions for aspirin last year for those at risk of heart attacks and strokes.
The latest study involved nearly 40,000 women over a ten-year period. Of those, 23 per cent carried a variation of the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene, which helps the body process stress hormones, linked to heart problems and stroke.
The research found that those who had the gene were naturally protected and were 34 per cent less likely to have heart attacks.
However, taking aspirin removed this protection and increased their risk of heart problems by 85 per cent – and, in some cases, by as much as three times.
In contrast, another group who carried a different variation of the same gene were more likely to have a heart attack than those who did not carry the gene, but aspirin protected against this, cutting the number of heart attacks by 47 per cent.
Study co-author Joseph Loscalzo, chairman of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School, said: ‘Rather than give aspirin to all patients with risk factors for heart disease, we need to use modern genomics and genetics to identify those individuals for whom aspirin has the greatest benefit and the lowest risk of adverse effects.’
Discovery: The Harvard University study found that nearly a quarter of adults - 23 per cent - carry a gene which, when combined with the painkiller, makes them nearly twice as likely to suffer a heart attack (file picture)
Tests for the genes are not currently available on the NHS.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘There is a long way to go before personalised medicine is routinely used for people with cardiovascular disease.’
Previous studies have cast doubt on whether healthy people should take aspirin as the risks could outweigh the benefits.
They have also found some do not appear to benefit from it, and while the risk of non-fatal heart attacks is reduced by 20 per cent, deaths from strokes and heart failure are not cut.
Anyone prescribed aspirin should continue to take it, experts advised.
A spokesman for the Government’s medicines watchdog, the MHRA, said: ‘As with all medicines we keep them under constant review.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2706927/Could-aspirin-heart-attack-Gene-doubles-risk-millions-painkiller-thinking-ward-cardiac-problems.html#ixzz38gfZF6gL
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