Aspirin

Aspirin (USAN), also known as acetylsalicylic acid, is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication.

Aspirin also has an antiplatelet effect by inhibiting the production of thromboxane, which under normal circumstances binds platelet molecules together to create a patch over damage of the walls within blood vessels. Because the platelet patch can become too large and also block blood flow, locally and downstream, aspirin is also used long-term, at low doses, to help prevent heart attacks, strokes, and blood clot formation in people at high risk for developing blood clots. It has also been established that low doses of aspirin may be given immediately after a heart attack to reduce the risk of another heart attack or of the death of cardiac tissue.

The main undesirable side effects of aspirin are gastrointestinal ulcers, stomach bleeding, and tinnitus, especially in higher doses. In children and adolescents, aspirin is no longer used to control flu-like symptoms or the symptoms of chickenpox or other viral illnesses, because of the risk of Reye's syndrome.

Aspirin was the first discovered member of the class of drugs known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), not all of which are salicylates, although they all have similar effects and most have inhibition of the enzyme cyclooxygenase as their mechanism of action. Today, aspirin is one of the most widely used medications in the world, with an estimated 40,000 tonnes of it being consumed each year. In countries where Aspirin is a registered trademark owned by Bayer, the generic term is acetylsalicylic acid (ASA).

Aspirin is one of the first-line drugs used in the treatment of migraine, bringing relief in 50-60% of the cases. It is as effective as a newer triptan medication sumatriptan (Imitrex) and other painkillers such as paracetamol (acetaminophen) o; ibuprofen. The combination of aspirin, paracetamol (acetaminophen) and caffeine (Excedrin) is even more potent. For the treatment of migraine headache, this formulation works better than any of its three components taken separately, better than ibuprofen and better than sumatriptan. Similarly to all other medications for migraine, it is recommended to take aspirin at the first signs of the headache, and v is the way these medications were used in the comparative clinical trials.

Aspirin alleviates pain in 60-75% patients with episodic tension headache. It is equivalent to paracetamol (acetaminophen) in that respect, except for the higher frequency of gastrointestinal side effects. Comparative clinical trials indicated that metamizole and ibuprofen may relieve pain faster than aspirin, although the difference becomes insignificant after about 2 hours. The combination of aspirin, paracetamol (acetaminophen) and caffeine (Excedrin) is still more effective, but at the cost of more stomach discomfort, nervousness and dizziness.

Although aspirin has been used to combat fever and pains associated with common cold for more than 100 years, only recently its efficacy was confirmed in controlled clinical trials on adults. 1 g of aspirin, on average, reduced the oral body temperature from 39.0°C to 37.6°C after 3 hours. The relief began after 30 minutes, and after 6 hours the temperature still remained below 37.8°C. Aspirin also helped with "achiness", discomfort and headache, and with sore throat pain, for those who had it. Aspirin was indistinguishable from paracetamol (acetaminophen) in any respect, except for, possibly, slightly higher rate of sweating and gastrointestinal side effects.