And practicing physicians know this. That's why a patient who shows up in the emergency room with a heart attack is immediately given an aspirin tablet. Just one aspirin, taken early enough, can reduce a heart attack's severity and damage. Aspirin also gives cardiac patients, and those at high risk for heart disease, protection over the long term, says George Beller, M.D., chief of University of Virginia Health Sciences Center's cardiovascular division. That includes not just patients at high risk for a heart attack or stroke, but those who've had bypass surgery or coronary angioplasty.
Experts think so.
It was a finding striking enough that the aspirin component of the study was ended early. But whether healthy adults should take aspirin prophylactically has never been settled, says Dr. Mittelman, since no follow-up studies have confirmed the Physicians' Health Study findings. In addition, for healthy men and women under 50 the risks of consuming aspirin regularly may outweigh the benefits. All rights reserved.