(NAPSA)—If you are overweight, smoke and don’t eat a healthy diet or exercise regularly, you may beat increasedrisk for a heart attack. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), approximately 1.1 million Americans will have their first or recurrent heart attack this year and over 45% of them will die. Further, over 600,000 Americans will suffer from their first or recurrent stroke; of those, 167,000 will die. To help improve these statistics, physicians are now being challenged to begin comprehensive risk reduction for more patients at an earlier stage of their disease. New AHA guidelinesissued in the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke: 2002 Update may help these physicians accomplish these goals. The AHA nowrecommendsthat adults with high risk of cardiovascular diseasetalk to their doctors about low-strength aspirin to avoid a potentially fatal or disabling first heart attack or stroke. The guidelines found that lowstrength aspirin, which they defined as 75 to 160 mg, is as effective as higher doses. The recommendations also note that the benefits of cardiovascular risk reduction outweigh the risk of gastrointestinal side effects in people with a 10% risk of heart disease over the next 10 years. “Patients on an aspirin regimen should talk with their doctor again to find out if they are taking the optimal dose because these guidelines confirm that in the case of aspirin, more is not always better,” explains Mary Ann McLaughlin, MD, MPH, FACC, assistant professor of medicine cardiology andgeriatrics, co-director of Women’s CARE(Cardiovascular Assessment And Risk Evaluation) Program, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY. “For cardio-protection, I recom- mend 81mgaspirin becausethis single doseis effective and carries significantly less risk of serious GI problems,” continues Dr. McLaughlin. In the United States, low strength aspirin is 81 milligramsandis often associated with the St. Joseph 81mg Aspirin brand. Millions ofAmericans have fond childhood memoriesof the little orange tablet their mom used to give, which is now used byadults as part of a doctor recommended treatment regimen to reduce the risk of recurrent heart attack and stroke. You can log on to www.81mg.com for a free sample of low dose aspirin. Talk to your doctor to determineif low dose aspirin is right for you. New AHAScreening Recommendations Every 2 years, test your Every 5 years: Improve your heart health profile by: Blood pressure Get a cholesterol profile V Eating a healthy diet WBody mass index (BMI) Wrest glucose levels YMaintaining a healthy weight Waist Circumference V exercising regularly Puke VAvoiding tobacco Do you know yourheart disease risk? Takethe St. Joseph Heart Health Profile at www.stjosephaspirin.com. Bringthe results to your next doctor’s appointmentto see if daily lowstrength aspirin therapy with St. Joseph Aspirin is right for you. @
