The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7178 p839-846
15 December 2001

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Stroke severity reduced by aspirin

Aspirin may reduce stroke severity, say researchers.

Dr Janet Wilterdink, Department of Neurology, Brown Medical School, Rhode Island, and colleagues compared stroke severity among patients who did or did not take aspirin in the week before experiencing a stroke, using data collected prospectively from the trial of Org 10172 in acute stroke treatment (TOAST).

The trial involved 1,275 patients, 509 of whom took aspirin at least once in the week before suffering an ischaemic stroke. Information regarding the dose and frequency of aspirin taken was not collected. Stroke severity was measured using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) and the Supplemental Motor Examination (SME) performed within 24 hours of stroke onset and again at three months.

The investigators found that there was a difference in the mean NIHSS scores and SME scores between aspirin users and non-users, with a higher percentage of milder strokes among aspirin users (P=0.003 and P=0.004). Scores at three months showed significant differences in stroke severity measured by SME but not NIHSS. Once confounding factors were controlled for, the difference between aspirin users and non-users for baseline NIHSS remained significant (P=0.029), however, the difference for baseline SME score did not (P=0.384).

The authors conclude that aspirin use was associated with milder clinical deficits at stroke onset and recommend that future trials should ensure that prestroke aspirin use is comparable (Stroke 2001;32:2836).

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