Aspirin May Help Prevent Repeat Clots

Taking aspirin for an extended time after a blood clot in the leg or arm may help prevent repeat clots, a new study suggests. The study included 402 people who had a recent deep vein thrombosis. This is a clot in a deep vein of a leg or arm. Such clots can travel to the lungs or brain. This can cause breathing problems, stroke or death. People in the study were given usual treatment with blood thinners for several months. Then they were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group took a low-dose aspirin daily. The other group took identical placebo (fake) pills. In the next 2 years, 6.6% of those taking aspirin and 11.2% of those taking the placebo had repeat blood clots. One person in each group had a problem with excess bleeding. The New England Journal of Medicine published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it May 23.