The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7224 p705
16 November 2002

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New England Journal of Medicine (content.nejm.org)

Early aspirin improves survival

Early treatment with aspirin improves survival after coronary bypass surgery, say American researchers.

They studied just over 5,000 patients and found that among those treated with aspirin within 48 hours of surgery, the rate of death was more than 60 per cent lower than it was in those who were not (1.3 per cent versus 4.0 per cent, P<0.001).

The rates of non-fatal ischaemic complications, including myocardial infarction, stroke, renal failure and bowel infarction, were each reduced by a similar magnitude (New England Journal of Medicine 2002; 347:1309).