People who have had an ischemic stroke are at higher lifetime risk for another stroke, but several types of medication can reduce that risk. One of the simplest regimens involves antithrombotic medications, otherwise known as blood thinners, of which the most common is aspirin.
But a new UCLA study to determine whether the use of antithrombotic medications among stroke survivors increased over a seven-year period found that in each of the years, approximately 20 percent of survivors were not taking these medications — a figure that did not decrease during the time period. The study also found that individuals who were younger, female or Hispanic were less likely to be taking antithrombotic agents.
The findings appear in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
"Prior studies have shown that nearly all stroke survivors receive such medications in the hospital," said lead author Dr. Eric M. Cheng, assistant professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. "However, it was not known whether stroke survivors continued to take this type of medication after they were discharged from the hospital."
Researchers analyzed data compiled from the annual Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) from 2000 to 2006. In the seven annual MEPS data sets, 4,168 people reported having had a stroke. The study authors looked at the use of antithrombotic agents, which include aspirin (an antiplatelet), other antiplatelet medications and anticoagulants.