Stroke: Risks greater if elderly use aspirin over warfarin
The risk of having a stroke in older generations could be significantly reduced by taking warfarin instead of aspirin.
Research undertaken at Birmingham University, published in The Lancet, included 973 patients, aged over 75 with a stroke risk factor, who had atrial fibrillation - an irregular heartbeat that increases the risk of a stroke - for a period of 2.7 years.
A total of 488 received warfarin and 485 received aspirin. The results showed the aspirin group saw 48 serious events, whereas the warfarin group saw 24 serious events.
The patients were monitored for incidences of fatal or disabling stroke, intracranial haemorrhage and clinically significant arterial embolism.
The findings concluded that warfarin could safely be used much more widely by older people and was no more hazardous than aspirin in this age group.
Meanwhile, a Cambridge University study found that coping well with stress could also cut the risk of having a stroke by nearly 25%. A study of 20,000 people over a course of seven years recorded 452 strokes and more than 100,000 stressful life events among the participants.
Stroke is currently England and Wales' third largest killer, with 150,000 people suffering from strokes each year in the UK.
Aspirin is widely used to prevent heart attack and stroke and both it and warfarin reduce the risk of blood clots forming in important blood vessels.
