In a new study from the University of Michigan, researchers found that more blood thinners aren’t automatically better.
They focused on the minimal pros and the concerning cons of combining a daily aspirin with a drug from the newer class of anticoagulants that include apixaban, dabigatran, edoxaban and rivaroxaban.
Patients were taking one of these direct oral anticoagulants known as DOACs to prevent strokes from non-valvular atrial fibrillation or for the treatment of venous thromboembolic disease (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism).
The included patients did not have another reason to take aspirin such as a recent history of a heart attack or a history of a heart valve replacement.
The researchers found that almost one-third of the people who were prescribed a DOAC were also taking aspirin without a clear reason for the aspirin.
They found the patients on combination therapy were more likely to have bleeding events but they weren’t less likely to have a blood clot.
The team says the combination of an anticoagulant and an antiplatelet may be appropriate for people who have had a recent heart attack, recent coronary stent placement or bypass surgery, prior mechanical valve surgery or known peripheral artery disease, among other conditions.
For the others, combination therapy may not be happening intentionally; rather, the addition of aspirin might get overlooked because it’s not in any one specialist or general care provider’s territory.
The researchers note that there are many medical conditions and situations where adding aspirin with a direct oral anticoagulant has not been adequately studied.
Previously, the team also reported a significant increase in adverse outcomes for people taking both aspirin and warfarin, a different kind of anticoagulant.
If you care about blood clots, please read studies about a new way to prevent deadly blood clotting and findings of a new cause of COVID-19 blood clotting.
For more information about blood thinner and your health, please see recent studies about newer blood thinner drug plus aspirin could cut stroke risk by nearly 30% and results showing that daily aspirin may increase cancer growth and spread in older people.
The study is published in JAMA Internal Medicine. One author of the study is Jordan Schaefer, M.D.
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