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Daily aspirin therapy: Understand the benefits and risks
Content
Should you take a daily aspirin?
How can aspirin prevent a heart attack?
Should you avoid daily aspirin therapy if you have another health condition?
What's the best dose of aspirin to take?
What happens if you stop taking aspirin every day?
Can you take aspirin if you regularly take ibuprofen or another nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) for another condition?
What are the possible side effects of daily aspirin therapy?
What are possible drug interactions with daily aspirin therapy?
If you take daily aspirin, is it still safe to take an aspirin during a heart attack?
Should you take a coated aspirin?
How can aspirin prevent a heart attack?
Aspirin interferes with the blood's clotting action. When a person bleeds, clotting cells, called platelets, collect at the site of the wound. The platelets help form a plug that seals the opening in the blood vessel, stopping the bleeding.
But this clotting can also occur within the vessels that carry blood to the heart. If blood vessels are already narrowed from a buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries (atherosclerosis), a fatty deposit in the vessel lining can tear, exposing the blood to the inner wall of the artery, which then clots.
The clot prevents blood flow to the heart and causes a heart attack. Aspirin therapy reduces the clotting action of platelets — possibly preventing a heart attack.
