Millions of adults take an aspirin every morning to ward off heart disease. But a new study suggests that the pills might be most effective if taken right before bed.
Taking a daily aspirin helps thin the blood and prevent platelets from clumping, lowering the likelihood of heart attacks and stroke. Cardiovascular events are about three times more likely to occur in the morning, when blood pressure and platelet activity are typically at their highest levels.
In the new study, researchers at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands looked at 290 heart disease patients who were using aspirin to help prevent future heart attacks or strokes. The patients took 100 milligrams of aspirin once a day.
In one phase of the study, they took the aspirin first thing in the morning, for three months. In a second phase, they took the aspirin right before bed.
Ultimately the researchers found that morning platelet activity was reduced to a much greater degree when the aspirin was taken at night. The timing of the aspirin, however, had no impact on morning blood pressure levels, which was something else the researchers measured.
The findings were presented at an American Heart Association conference in Dallas on Tuesday.
The lead author of the study, Dr. Tobias Bonten, said he and his colleagues planned to look at the occurrence of cardiovascular events in future studies. But in the meantime, he said, it may make more sense for daily aspirin users to take the medication before turning in each night, rather than first thing in the morning.
Dr. Bonten pointed out that some other cardiovascular medications are also taken in the evening. Certain statins are taken at night, for example, to counteract cholesterol production that occurs during sleep. Scheduling aspirin at night might be similarly useful.
“I think in most Western countries, people take aspirin in the morning,” he said. “It’s already one of our most effective medications. But maybe we can improve it a little bit more by switching the time.”
