A new survey released today found that four out of five Americans age 40 and older surveyed consider aspirin a simple everyday wonder and most are aware of its many uses*, including its benefits for treating pain and cardiovascular disease. Yet, research shows that only half of people at elevated risk for a heart attack – including those who have already had one – take aspirin. In addition, according to the American Heart Association, someone will die from a heart attack every 35 seconds. If taken as directed by a doctor when a heart attack is suspected, aspirin can reduce the risk of death by up to 23%. However, the new survey found that although 74% of Americans surveyed know aspirin can save their life if taken during a heart attack, only a quarter carry aspirin with them when they are not at home.
“When it comes to decision-making, there is a very clear gap between people’s intentions and their actual behaviors,” says Michael Solomon, Ph.D., a leading consumer behavior expert and visiting professor of marketing at the Haub School of Business at St. Joseph's University. “This is because consumers are used to using products where they directly see or feel a benefit. For example, food products immediately relieve hunger and mouthwash gives fresh breath, but disease prevention products – even lifesaving ones – work ‘behind-the-scenes.’”
Professor Solomon adds that to achieve one’s intention, it is important to establish a habit. An example of that would be getting into the habit of taking a doctor-recommended aspirin each day at the same time.
If just as many at-risk Americans regularly took aspirin – or carried it with them – as those who know about its many benefits, there could be more heart attacks prevented and potentially more lives saved. Consumers can visit www.WonderDrug.com for more information about aspirin, the simple wonder, and the survey results.
About Aspirin, the Wonder Drug
The survey results underscore aspirin’s role as a simple wonder with big benefits. In fact, when asked whether several drugs deserve “wonder drug” status, a majority of Americans selected aspirin, putting it in the same league as penicillin and the polio vaccine. Furthermore, the majority of those surveyed were well aware of aspirin’s myriad benefits: it is a potent pain reliever, can reduce the risk of heart attack and recurrent stroke, and can save someone’s life if taken as directed by a doctor during a heart attack. Most say it is a medicine cabinet must-have.
*It was in 1948 that Dr. Lawrence Craven, a general practitioner in California, discovered aspirin’s antiplatelet effects and began recommending an “aspirin a day” to his patients to prevent heart attack (myocardial infarction, or MI). It was not until 1971 that British pharmacologist John R. Vane discovered aspirin’s basic mechanism of action. The discovery of the mechanism by which aspirin exerts its antiplatelet effects, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular events, was made in 1975. Ten years later, in 1985 the FDA approved the use of aspirin to prevent MI and death in patients who had had a previous MI or unstable angina pectoris (chest pain). In 1996 the FDA approved new labeling for the use of aspirin during a suspected MI, and in 1998 the agency expanded the labeling of aspirin to include prevention of a recurrent stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA or “mini stroke”) in both men and women; using aspirin in lower doses to reduce the risk of recurrent MI and stroke; and using aspirin during a suspected MI.
© 2006 HealthNewsDigest.com