By Dr Deepu
Taking Clopidogrel along with an aspirin a day to reduce your risk of a stroke or heart attack?
That Clopidogrel-aspirin combination almost doubled the mortality risks of patients who had diabetes and high blood pressure but had not suffered a heart attack, according to a study of some 15,000 patients.
Adding Clopidogrel is generally no more effective than taking an aspirin, a result that surprised researchers. No doubt, it shocked drug makers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis too!
Researchers should have expected these kinds of health-harming results, considering Clopidogrel elevated a patient’s risk of developing ulcers by a factor of 12 versus aspirin and Nexium. Just remember, aspirin isn’t a safe, cure-all drug either and, according to one Harvard pharmacist, probably wouldn’t have been approved by the FDA for over-the-counter use had it debuted today.
Best alternatives to taking a drug to protect the heart are
Take a high quality fish or cod liver oil daily.
Get moving on an exercise program.
New England Journal of Medicine, March 12, 2006
USA Today, March 13, 2006.
Adding Clopidogrel is generally no more effective than taking an aspirin, a result that surprised researchers. No doubt, it shocked drug makers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis too!
Researchers should have expected these kinds of health-harming results, considering Clopidogrel elevated a patient’s risk of developing ulcers by a factor of 12 versus aspirin and Nexium. Just remember, aspirin isn’t a safe, cure-all drug either and, according to one Harvard pharmacist, probably wouldn’t have been approved by the FDA for over-the-counter use had it debuted today.
Best alternatives to taking a drug to protect the heart are
Take a high quality fish or cod liver oil daily.
Get moving on an exercise program.
New England Journal of Medicine, March 12, 2006
USA Today, March 13, 2006.
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