People who take aspirin to prevent heart attack might be better taking it at bed-time than in the morning, according to a Dutch study.
Patients are known to be at risk when they wake up in the morning – and researchers say this is partly caused by increased activity of the platelets that cause blood clotting at this time.
According to the latest study, taking aspirin before bed helps to prevent this problem.
Researchers from the Leiden University Medical Centre, the Netherlands, reported their findings at a conference of the American Heart Association in Dallas, Texas.
Their study involved some 290 patients, who were given aspirin at night or in the morning over a three month period twice. Researchers measured their blood pressure and platelet activity.
Changing the time of taking aspirin made no difference to blood pressure – but it did cut overnight platelet activity significantly.
Researcher Tobias Bonten said: “Because higher platelet activity contributes to a higher risk of acute heart events, this simple intervention – switching aspirin intake from morning to bedtime – could be beneficial for the millions of patients with heart disease who take aspirin on a daily basis."
Meanwhile British researchers revealed how they were using genetic testing to improve dosing with the drug warfarin.
Researchers from Liverpool University, UK, said their trials showed that genetic testing helped ensure patients were not over-dosed.
They measured doses based on tests for two genes linked to blood clotting.
Researcher Professor Munir Pirmohamed, chair of pharmacogenetics, said: “We found that genotyping before starting warfarin increased the time in therapeutic range by approximately 7%, reduced over-anticoagulation, reduced the time required to reach therapeutic range, improved the time required to reach stable dose and reduced the number of warfarin dose adjustments."
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