A Fifth of Stroke Survivors Fail to Take Antithrombotic Medication

A new study claims that approximately 20% of stroke survivors are not taking antithrombotic agents such as aspirin, despite doctor's recommendations.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA; USA) analyzed data compiled from seven U.S. annual medical-expenditure panel survey (MEPS) data sets, from 2000 to 2006, in which 4,168 people reported having had a stroke. The study authors then looked at the participant's use of antithrombotic agents, which include aspirin, other antiplatelet medications, and anticoagulants. Pooling the results across the seven years, the researchers found that 75% of the stroke survivors were using an antithrombotic agent, with 66% reporting taking antiplatelet medication, and 57% taking aspirin. After excluding those individuals who reported not taking aspirin because it was unsafe for them, the researchers calculated that 81% were actually using their antithrombotic agents. The researchers also found that individuals who were younger, female, or of Hispanic origin were less likely to take their medication. The findings were published in the January 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"Even though use of prescription antiplatelet medications is rising, aspirin remains the predominant antithrombotic agent used for secondary stroke prevention. There were no improvements in overall use of antithrombotic agents over the 7-year period,” said lead author assistant professor of neurology Eric Cheng, M.D., M.S. "Use of aspirin, prescription antiplatelet agents, and use of any antiplatelet agent increased over the study period, but after dropping the first 2 years, no temporal trend was detected, indicating that temporal changes in usage of these agents had plateaued.”

The annual MEPS survey contains data on use of both aspirin and other prescription medications. Each year, a MEPS panel is drawn from respondents from the previous year's U.S. National Health Interview Survey, a representative sample of the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population, with oversampling of minority populations and households with low family income.

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