The use of low-dose aspirin may reduce ICU admissions and hospital deaths of patients with COVID-19, according to a new study.
Researchers at George Washington University published their findings, which indicate the lung’s protective effects of pills without a prescription, in the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia on Wednesday.
Doctors were particularly interested in studying the effects of aspirin on patients with coronavirus because it is one of the cheapest and most widely available drugs. Other drugs to treat COVID-19, such as remive, can be prohibitively expensive.
COVID-19 has been associated with increased blood clot risk for some patients – aspirin is a well-known anticoagulant and antiplatelet drug, arousing researchers’ interest in further studying the drug.
“Our hospitals were overloaded, patients were dying at an alarming rate and I was sleeping in my office so that we could provide care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to our ICU COVID patients at night,” said the study’s author, Dr. Jonathan Chow, to CBS News on Friday. “The uncertainty made us afraid of what might come next. Despite this, we knew that we had to look at science and data to see what therapies were available to give hope to these patients ”.
However, its effects on ventilation, ICU admission and mortality rates have not been studied, the researchers said.
“As we learned about the connection between blood clots and COVID-19, we knew that aspirin – used to prevent strokes and heart attacks – could be important for patients with COVID-19,” said Chow in a statement. “Our research found an association between low-dose aspirin and decreased COVID-19 severity and death.”
The researchers studied more than 400 patients admitted from March to July 2020 to hospitals across the country, including GW Hospital, the University of Maryland Medical Center, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the Northeast Georgia Health System.
They found that the use of aspirin led to a 44% reduction in the use of ventilators, a 43% reduction in ICU admission and a 47% reduction in in-hospital mortality.
“COVID-19 has been shown to cause the formation of excess platelets throughout the body, which causes the formation of micro-clots in the lungs and larger clots in the main blood vessels. Aspirin is a COX-1 inhibitor that decreases platelet aggregation and thrombus formation. It acts quickly within 30 minutes to 3 hours, and then inactivates platelets during its life, “Chow told CBS News. “We think that it is through the antiplatelet properties of aspirin that led to the association with better results, such as reducing the risk of admission to the ICU and death, that we observed in our study”.
Chow said he hopes that these findings will lead to new research, specifically randomized controlled trials, on the possible connection between the use of aspirin and the reduction of lung injury in patients with coronavirus, now that some hospitals are not as overloaded as they were at the beginning of the pandemic.
“Aspirin is low-cost, easily accessible and millions are already using it to treat their health problems,” said Chow. “Finding this association is a major victory for those looking to reduce the risk of some of the most devastating effects of COVID-19.”
So should patients with COVID-19 run to the pharmacy? Not so fast.
“I would advise all patients with COVID-19 to consult their primary care physician so that they can properly weigh the risks and benefits. As aspirin is a blood thinner, the main risk is internal bleeding,” said Chow. “Although it does not replace vaccines or masks, the association we found with aspirin is a major victory for those looking to reduce the risk of some of the most devastating effects of COVID-19.”