Daily Covid-19 Minute: Low-Dose Aspirin
We've known low-dose aspirin can reduce the risk of having a stroke or heart attack but now we're learning it might also reduce your chance of getting severely sick or even dying from Covid-19.
Because the disease has been associated with higher risks of blood clots, researchers at George Washington University were interested in low-dose aspirin for covid. Aspirin, of course, is a known blood thinner.
It turns out hospitalized covid patients on low-dose aspirin had several desirable outcomes:
- 44 percent less likely to be put on a ventilator
- 43 percent less likely to be admitted to the ICU
- And 47 percent less likely to die in the hospital
There were also no differences in bleeding events between people on aspirin and those who were not. Because the study was small, and it wasn't the gold standard randomized controlled trial, we need to be careful when interpreting this data. However, aspirin is widely available, cheap, and relatively safe so it could be a game-changer in our management of covid patients.