Analyze the Following Study According to the Criteria Set by Your

Essay

Analyze the following study according to the criteria set by your instructor:
We provided evidence that we could prevent myocardial infarction in angina patients, says Pierre Theroux of the Montreal Heart Institute. As reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (October 27, 1988), Theroux and his colleagues placed 479 hospitalized patients who had experienced chest pains into four treatment groups receiving either aspirin, heparin, a combination of the two, or a placebo.
Heparin therapy reduced the rate of fatal and nonfatal heart attacks by 89 percent as compared with the placebo. It also reduced chest pain by 63 percent. Previous studies of heparin treatment of chest pain have produced questionable results, Theroux says.
Aspirin therapy also helped: The Montreal team found that aspirin reduced the risk of heart attacks by 72 percent as compared with the placebo. But the combination aspirin/heparin treatment showed no particular benefit compared with aspirin alone or heparin alone, and patients getting the two drugs combined had a slightly higher risk of complications, such as bleeding.
The researchers recommend, for patients hospitalized with chest pain, treatment with heparin upon admission followed by aspirin therapy for long-term management.
-Adapted from Science News