Aspirin is a drug that may save your life and may end it! Share this clip because many medical errors occur in dealing with it. Summary of this clip on the Shorts platform: https://youtu.be/FPoxf_AKhUs
Peace be upon you. In the segment we titled "Aspirin After Forty," we explained that aspirin is beneficial in preventing recurrent clots in people who have previously suffered from heart or brain clots. For those who have not been affected, aspirin is not suitable for them, even if the person is over forty or fifty, or even if they suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol.
We said that health organizations agree on this, and some see the possibility of giving it only to people who have a "High Risk" (high probability of developing clots). How do we know these people? And what is the evidence for this statement?
If you go to the search engine "Google" and type "aspirin," you will find useful websites that present health guidelines (Guidelines). Health organizations gather and decide what is best based on studies.
For example, you can refer to:
You will notice that all of them agree with what we mentioned: either aspirin is not recommended as primary prevention (Primary Prevention) for those who have not had a clot, or it is recommended only for those with a very high probability of developing clots.
To determine the severity of the condition, you can search Google for ASCVD Plus. For specialists, this abbreviation means (Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease), i.e., the probability of a person developing heart and arterial diseases resulting from hardening. There is also a mobile application with the same name.
When you open the application, you will find fields where you enter the patient's information, and finally, it shows you "Estimate Risk," which is a calculation of the person's probability of developing heart or arterial diseases over the next ten years. If the probability is high, it becomes acceptable to consider aspirin, but if it is low, it does not suit them.
Let's apply this to the case we mentioned in the lecture "Aspirin After Forty":
When entering this data into the application, the result was 3.6%. This means that her probability of developing a clot over 10 years is only 3.6%.
The application explains the classification of these percentages as follows:
Based on this, the first case is considered "Low Risk" and does not need aspirin.
Let's take another case of a smoking male:
This person is considered in the high-risk category (High Risk), and here aspirin is an option to be discussed with the doctor. Notice that smoking alone raised the percentage significantly.
After reviewing these two models, we must point out the issue of the "gray area." When the treating physician decides whether or not to prescribe aspirin, they consider other factors that are not always shown in the digital calculations, such as:
Someone might say, "Why explain this to the general public? Isn't this the expertise of doctors?" The truth is that not all doctors or pharmacists keep up with the latest information. The story I mentioned earlier about a pharmacist who inappropriately prescribed aspirin to a relative of mine is a real event. Therefore, we are trying to spread community awareness; if your doctor prescribes aspirin and you find through the application that your risk percentage is very low (for example, 4%), you can discuss it with the doctor and ask about the reason for your daily need for it.
We can divide people into three main circles:
There are some final notes that are very necessary:
For those over seventy, doctors are less enthusiastic about prescribing aspirin as primary prevention. Studies often focus on the age group between 40 and 70. After seventy, the expected benefit of aspirin decreases and the likelihood of bleeding increases significantly.
The main concern with aspirin is that it can cause stomach, intestinal, or even brain bleeding in rare cases. Sometimes, there is mild bleeding that is not noticeable but depletes the body's iron stores, leading to anemia (anemia) without the patient knowing the cause.
Even if you use the application and your result is "High Risk," do not go and take aspirin on your own. Why? Because you may be medically prohibited from it for other reasons, such as:
In these cases, giving aspirin can cause a health disaster. Therefore, the final decision should be made by a doctor based on an informed discussion between you and your doctor.
May Allah make this speech beneficial to everyone, and may He heal us all. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.