Aspirin: A No-No For Heart Attack in Diabetics?

Filed in archive Notable , Research on October 16, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Susan Trigg

According to Scottish researchers, aspirin should not be given routinely to reduce the risk of heart attack in diabetes patients. As aspirin may increase the risk of bleeding in this patient group.

Scientists at the University of Dundee gave 1,276 diabetics aspirin, an antioxidant or a placebo, and followed their progress over eight years.

They found that neither the aspirin or the antioxidant reduced the risk of suffering a heart attack, even in the groups at high risk.

Professor Jill Belch, who led the study, published on BMJ.com, the website of the British Medical Journal, said that aspirin should be given only to patients who have already been diagnosed with heart disease or suffered a stroke.

Like always consult your doctor on this before stopping if you are diabetic and on aspirin.