# Do you take a Baby Aspirin a day to protect your Heart? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 22, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105 "2011-12-22T19:19:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/41 "2011-12-23T16:33:12Z")
“But, stewardess, I’m not having a heart attack, I have a headache!” ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/42 "2011-12-23T17:10:39Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It’s not uncommon for men to be on 325 if they’ve had a heart attack already. I can’t say whether or not it’s right for you, but if you generally trust your doctor, I’d trust him on this. > > Do you happen to have a source for this? I’ve been arguing it by logic for a while now, but I don’t have any “evidence based” basis for it, if you know what I mean. > > Question: should patients already on daily ASA still take a full strength aspirin at the first onset of chest pain? Does it make a difference if they’re on 325mg or 81mg? The AMA recommends _chewing_ a full strength (not time release or “arthritis formula”) , 325mg aspirin at first onset of chest pain. This is a standing order from most EMS units, as well. [Here](http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0505a.shtml) is a short article from Harvard on chewing vs swallowing during an attack. > [@](#): > > By all three measurements, chewed aspirin worked fastest. It needed only five minutes to reduce TxB2 concentrations by 50%; the Alka-Seltzer took almost 8 minutes, and the swallowed tablet took 12 minutes. Similarly, it took 14 minutes for the chewed tablet to produce maximal platelet inhibition; it took Alka-Seltzer 16 minutes and the swallowed tablet 26 minutes Other than “The Doctors” and Dr Oz, I don’t have a cite for taking low dose aspirin at night. They mentioned a study, but I don’t remember where it was done or when. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/43 "2011-12-23T21:14:02Z")
81 mg/day here. > [@picunurse](#): > > Low dose aspirin … should be taken before bedtime, rather than in the morning. MIs occurring at night or early morning have poorer out comes than those that strike during the day. Aspirin taken at night will have a greater effect if taken closer to the event. FWIW, on the heels of an email factoid to this effect a while back, I asked my g.p. specifically whether it mattered when I take my aspirin. He told me flatly that it does not. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/44 "2011-12-23T21:28:31Z")
But this may be the research in question: > [@Hypertension & Stroke](#): > > The Right Time To Take Aspirin To Lower Blood Pressure > > If you’re taking a daily aspirin tablet to reduce your risk of a heart attack, perhaps you should consider the time of day you take it. A study from Spain found that aspirin at bedtime might have the greatest heart benefit. > > The researchers studied 328 people with mild (and untreated) hypertension, and randomized them to take a daily low-dose (100 mg) aspirin tablet either upon awakening or at bedtime, or not to take aspirin at all. Three months after the trial began, the morning aspirin users experienced a slight increase in their blood pressure (by 3 mm Hg systolic/2 mm Hg diastolic), but blood pressure decreased in people taking aspirin at night (by 7 mm Hg systolic/5 mm Hg diastolic). Individuals not using aspirin also had a slight dip in their blood pressure… > > However, these results need to be confirmed before doctors start recommending that a daily aspirin be taken at night, rather than at other times of the day, to lower blood pressure… They cite _Journal of the American College of Cardiology_, Volume 46, page 975, September 20, 2005 as their source. And it is worth noting that the cited effect is a decrease in hypertension, not a decrease in heart attacks or severity thereof. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/45 "2011-12-23T21:49:09Z")
Another article about [timing](http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/54/5/1136.full). > [@](#): > > Previous studies showed that treatment with aspirin may decrease blood pressure when given at bedtime, whereas administration of aspirin in the morning slightly increased blood pressure.8,9 … Our study demonstrates that aspirin taken at bedtime compared with aspirin intake on awakening results in a statistically significantly diminished activity of different biological regulators of blood pressure: plasma renin activity over 24 hours and excretion of cortisol, dopamine, and norepinephrine in 24-hour urine were found to be decreased. Reduced activity of these pressor systems forms a biologically plausible explanation for the finding that aspirin at night may reduce blood pressure, whereas aspirin in the morning does not. Before this strategy may be implemented in clinical practice, future studies are warranted to assess whether the blood pressure–lowering effects of aspirin taken at bedtime are sustained in patients who have a clinical indication to be treated with aspirin, that is, patients at high risk of (recurrent) cardiovascular events. This may be challenging, because these patients are likely treated with a variety of antihypertensive drugs, which may dilute or interact with the time-dependent effects of aspirin on blood pressure. Another unanswered but important research question is whether effects of aspirin on platelet aggregation vary according to time of intake. Ultimately, clinical end point studies are needed to answer the final question of whether aspirin given at bedtime will lead to incremental cardiovascular protection beyond treatment on awakening. So night dosing does have some benefits for blood pressure control and it may result in better platelet aggregation effects, especially at the time of day that most fatal MIs tend to occur, but data proving any assertion that timing affects mortality rates seem to not yet be extant, only implied. Probably it is more important (for those who are appropriately on aspirin) that it is taken at a time of day that it remembered to be taken. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/46 "2011-12-23T23:49:14Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Please don’t self-medicate, folks. As **QtM** said at greater length, a person’s antidote is another one’s poison. Especially don’t mix OTC medicines with prescribed ones and “natural” medicine. They all have some degree of side effect and many don’t play well together. My doc just prescribed Effexor for me but was kind enough to give me the stats to read. Lo and behold, I shouldn’t take it because of my blood pressure. At least this doc knows he can trust me to read up on things for myself. I called and he apologized. We are going to wait a bit and see if my new exercise routine helps with the blood pressure as well as the depression. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/47 "2011-12-24T00:57:32Z")
It is one of 6 different medicines I was ordered to take after having a heart stent 2 years ago. Later I read that those controlling blood pressure and cholesterol with drugs are no more likely to have heart attacks than those getting stents. So if I still have to take pills by the handful, why the expensive, risky stent? Wallet surgery? ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/48 "2011-12-24T13:03:22Z")
Perhaps I should rethink taking prophylactic aspirin (when I remember to.) I’ve never been advised to do so, I just thought it was generally a good idea for someone over 50/post menopausal. My bp usually hovers around 90/60 so it’s probably of no benefit to me. ---
**Author:** ![BeaMyra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BeaMyra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeaMyra)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/49 "2011-12-24T13:12:36Z")
The thing is Americans have a tendency to over medicate. They think that if a baby aspirin is good for the heart a regular one must be better. And while 325 is usually the regular dose, the studies I’ve seen say that taking more, provides no additional benefit, so why take any more? Aspirin can be given to young people From the US government > [@](#): > > The United States Food and Drug Administration now recommends aspirin (or aspirin-containing products) should not be given to anyone under the age of 12 who has a fever The risk of Reyes Syndrome comes with the fever. If you have a headache or you hurt your thumb or something like that, it’s OK to take aspirin if you’re young. It’s especially bad if you have chickenpox or the flu. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/50 "2011-12-24T13:18:55Z")
I don’t except when I fly. That is to prevent deep vein thrombosis. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105/51 "2011-12-24T14:01:38Z")
> [@BeaMyra](#): > > The risk of Reyes Syndrome comes with the fever. If you have a headache or you hurt your thumb or something like that, it’s OK to take aspirin if you’re young. It’s especially bad if you have chickenpox or the flu. The real risk comes when you don’t \*know \*your child is incubating a viral illness (not just chicken pox or flu, but even just a cold can do it) and doesn’t look sick yet. Kids have this tendency to seem fine during the incubation and prodromal periods of an illness and then to “suddenly” get sick all at once. Headaches are often a precursor to or a symptom of a viral illness, so I wouldn’t suggest you give a child an aspirin for a headache even if they don’t have a fever. Reyes Syndrome kills more than a third of the kids who get it. Why take the risk when ibuprofen is readily available and works just as well for most kids? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-take-a-baby-aspirin-a-day-to-protect-your-heart/607105.md?page=2)