London - Tens of thousands of heart patients are wrongly taking aspirin - meaning it does more harm than good, according to the health watchdog.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has issued new guidance to GPs and hospital specialists telling them not to prescribe the drug for the life-threatening condition atrial fibrillation.
This affects up to 900 000 patients in England and causes their hearts to beat very fast and irregularly, greatly increasing the risk of stroke and early death.
But figures show that as many as one in seven - up to 120 000 patients - are taking aspirin even though it isn’t very effective and may itself cause a stroke.
The problem has come about because for almost a decade GPs and heart specialists were encouraged to prescribe aspirin, as it was thought the drug helped to thin the blood and prevent the deadly clots that cause strokes.
But new evidence recently has emerged highlighting the side effects of aspirin, which include bleeding in the stomach and, in rare cases, bleeds in the brain that actually lead to strokes. Studies have also shown aspirin is far less effective than other less risky blood-thinning drugs such as warfarin and a new generation of this type of medication, which includes rivaroxaban and apixaban.
NICE issued guidelines to doctors last June in light of this evidence, but today issued an urgent reminder following concerns that tens of thousands of patients are still on aspirin.
The watchdog has told doctors they should immediately switch patients on aspirin to one of the other drugs. NICE has instructed managers to carry out an audit of their local area to count how many patients are still on aspirin.
GPs have also been told to see patients who are still on the drug at least once a year to check they do not wish to stop taking them.
The watchdog has previously estimated that 2 000 deaths and 7 000 strokes in England a year could be prevented if patients took the correct medication.
Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive of NICE, said: “Atrial fibrillation can be a distressing condition and people with it have an increased risk of having a stroke. Therefore it’s important that people have their condition managed effectively in order to eliminate the significant risk of stroke.”
Dr Matthew Fay, a GP who was on the NICE panel that drew up the guidance, said: “This should provide the impetus to those who still speculate on the value of aspirin from historic practice to have the discussion with their patients about the benefits of anticoagulation hopefully before, and not after, a devastating stroke.”
The guidelines coincide with a survey of 200 patients with atrial fibrillation, carried out by drugs firm Daiichi Sankyo UK, which showed that 13.7 percent were still taking aspirin.
Atrial fibrillation increases the risk of having a stroke five-fold. The irregular heartbeat results in blood not being pumped efficiently around the body, which means it is more likely to remain stagnant and form clots. This in turn leads to strokes.
Daily Mail