Assessment of the extent, causes and prevalence of aspirin resistance among Saudi and Egyptian patients: A comparative study

Abstract

Background and Aim: Aspirin (antiplatelets) was significantly effective as anticoagulant in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Aspirin resistance was reported by some studies so; the aim of this study is to assess the aspirin resistance prevalence and the causes of this resistance in patients among Saudis and Egyptians. Methods: This study will be carried out among Saudi and Egyptians with previous strokes or thromboembolism and using aspirin as anticoagulant through interview containing some questions about the reasons for refusing aspirin, degree of satisfaction of aspirin as anticoagulant and the signs of aspirin un-efficacy.Results: There were 786 participants in total, the majority of them were women (414 were from the KSA and 372 were from Egypt). Aspirin use was common among both countries and the majority of them for their metabolic disorders. Only 7.0% & 9.9% of Saudis & Egyptians switched from aspirin to other anticoagulants due to aspirin inefficacy (1.2% & 1.1%) or bleeding (1.2% & 2.2%), or gastric ulcer (1.7% & 2.7%) or sensitivity (2.7% & 4.0%), respectively. Most participants were strongly in favor of using aspirin as an anticoagulant. Conclusion: We can conclude that low percentage of aspirin resistance was observed and Patients with an inadequate aspirin response have an increased likelihood for subsequent resistance. More research was needed to be done on more patients to confirm these results.