Cardiologist Dr. Vadim Zakiyev, lecturer at the Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine of the Russian University of Social Sciences, revealed the consequences of unjustified aspirin intake.
According to him, aspirin can help prevent recurrent ischemic heart attacks and strokes, but taking it incorrectly can cause hemorrhagic stroke. Because aspirin is useful in cases of myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary heart disease, severe atherosclerosis, and a number of other diseases.
He says: “During my practice, there was a patient who suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke, that is, a cerebral bleeding, which was caused by his unjustified intake of aspirin, even though he took it for a short period. That is, it is better for the patient to take statins instead of aspirin when there are no indications that require taking it. Because Statins are useful in preventing cardiovascular disease, not aspirin, as statins work to lower the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), also known as “bad cholesterol,” and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The side effects of statins are much fewer than aspirin. However, they are prescribed as statins, and in any case it is not recommended to take them like aspirin until only after the doctor prescribes them.
Zakiyev points out that the doctor who prescribes aspirin or any other medicine must explain to the patient how to take the medicine, the benefits and risks, because the side effects of the medicine include heartburn, stomach pain, ulcers, and bleeding.
People who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder are at risk of premature death from any cause
A new study revealed that those who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are 82% more likely to die early from natural or unnatural causes, compared to those who do not suffer from this condition.
Previous studies have found excess deaths among those with OCD, but the specific causes of death have not been well researched, other than perhaps suicide.
It is worth noting that people with OCD have similar suicide rates as those with other mental health disorders.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder affects about 2% of the population. People with this condition suffer from disturbing and recurring thoughts and fears called obsessions, such as fear of exposure to pollution or becoming aggressive towards others. These obsessions may push patients to behaviors in which they repeatedly perform certain rituals, called compulsive behaviors. These obsessions and compulsive behaviors impair daily activities, affecting relationships, social activities, and the general ability to perform functions.
Lorena Fernandez de la Cruz and colleagues at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden aimed to understand the specific natural and unnatural causes of death that contribute to the high reported mortality rates in OCD.
They used Swedish population registers, which include administrative and healthcare data from the entire population, to compare a group of 61,378 people who received an OCD diagnosis with 613,780 people without OCD.
They followed both groups for more than four decades (from 1973 to 2020) and found that those with OCD died at an earlier age than those without OCD (69 versus 78 years).
The risk of death during the study period was 82% higher in the group with OCD, compared to the group without it. The increased risk of death was due to natural causes (31% increased risk) and unnatural causes (230% increased risk).
For the first time, researchers were able to identify specific causes of death from natural causes. People with OCD were more likely to suffer from lung diseases (73%), mental and behavioral disorders (58%), diseases of the urinary and reproductive systems (55%), endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (47%), and diseases of the urinary and vascular system. (33%), the nervous system (21%), and the digestive system (20%).
Interestingly, the risk of dying from cancer was 13% lower in those with OCD. It is not known why this risk has shifted in the opposite direction.
Among unnatural causes of death, suicide was the major contributor to the increased mortality rate. Those who suffer from OCD, compared to those who do not suffer from it, have about 5 times the risk of dying by suicide.
Also, those suffering from OCD were 92% more likely to die due to accidents, including traffic accidents or falls.
The results persisted even after taking into account mental health disorders other than OCD, for example, anxiety, depression and substance use disorders.
When the researchers compared the OCD group with their siblings without OCD, the results remained largely unchanged. This confirms that the findings cannot be solely attributed to any co-occurring mental health disorders or genetic or environmental factors shared in families, but are likely related to OCD itself.
Although these are not positive results for those with OCD, it is important to note that the proportion of those who died from each cause was relatively small, even when compared to the group without OCD.
For example, during the study period, 2.5% of people with OCD died from circulatory disease (such as heart attacks and strokes), which is a low percentage. However, this proportion is higher than the 1.8% of deaths due to this cause in the non-OCD group.