Aspirin may be among the topics most discussed in these pages and today there is another study on aspirin, this time looking at coated aspirin and perhaps it’s reduced effectiveness compared to plain aspirin.
I think most people use coated aspirin now as it is the type most advertised, and it does provide some benefit in reducing the potential for stomach irritation. That said, it is possible that this ‘coating’ will alter the pharmicodynamics of the aspirin.
In this recent study in the journal Circulation, plain aspirin was found more effective that coated aspirin, in which people initially showed some resistance to the aspirin effect. Retesting however, showed that those people initially not gaining the blood thinning effects of aspirin, eventually showed a response.
So…what are we to make of this information? Not much. Perhaps there is a benefit to ‘plain’ aspirin, but if you are taking coated aspirin regularly it appears to be just as effective.
Also, another comment, on aspirin resistance. There are a lot of articles written on this topic, suggesting that patients get checked for aspirin resistance, but in my practice I have never seen one documented case of aspirin resistance, and I have checked people for this in the past. In addition, in this journal article, they too found really no evidence of widespread aspirin resistance. So, another practical point: Don’t worry about aspirin resistance. If you are an aspirin-taker….feel confident in it’s effectiveness.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2012/12/04/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.117283.abstract