2-DRUG THERAPY REDUCES HEART ATTACK RISK, STUDY SAYS.(MAIN)

Byline: JUDY FOREMAN Boston Globe

A new study shows for the first time that low doses of two drugs -- aspirin and a blood thinner called Coumadin -- reduce the risk of a first heart attack by one-third in middle-aged, high-risk men.

The 13-year study of more than 5,000 men, published in the current Lancet, a British medical journal, used an average of 4.1 milligrams a day of Coumadin and 75 milligrams a day of aspirin.

Coumadin is believed to reduce fatal heart attacks and aspirin to reduce nonfatal attacks, said Dr. Thomas Meade, director of the Medical Research Council in Britain and lead author.

But other heart and stroke specialists …