lower risk of heart disease, but the findings of this study and others are changing this practice.”
Also, most of the previous research on aspirin’s usefulness against heart trouble was based on data from white patients, Fernandez-Jimenez noted.
“Most available data shows that African Americans have a higher risk of having a heart attack, stroke or other heart diseases compared to whites; however, previous studies didn’t include enough black participants to determine if taking a low-dose aspirin for primary prevention of heart disease was useful for this group of people,” he said in a journal news release.
Dr. Satjit Bhusri is a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He stressed that aspirin is still being recommended for people at high risk of a heart attack, such as those who’ve already had an attack.
So why didn’t that benefit seem to extend to black patients? “There may be an underlying genetic, compliance or socioeconomic play here,” said Bhusri, who wasn’t involved in the new study.
In the meantime, informed decisions as to who is “high-risk,” regardless of