Cardiovascular Diseases

Aspirin for Primary Prevention Challenged

Findings of two randomized, placebo controlled clinical trials challenged the role of aspirin in primary prevention in a low-risk population and in patients of diabetes. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study was done in seven countries. Between July 5, 2007, and Nov 15, 2016, 12 546 eligible patients aged 55 years (men) or 60 years (women) and older and had an average cardiovascular risk were randomly assigned to receive enteric-coated aspirin (100 mg daily, n=6270) or placebo (n=6276). During median follow-up of 60 months, in the intention-to-treat analysis, the primary endpoint (a composite outcome of time to first occurrence of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction [MI], unstable angina, stroke, or transient ischemic attack [TIA]) occurred in 269 (4.29%) patients in the aspirin group versus 281 (4.48%) patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio [HR] 0.96). Gastrointestinal bleeding events (mostly mild) occurred in 61 (0.97%) patients in the aspirin group versus 29 (0.46%) in the placebo group (HR 2.11). Documented deaths and the overall incidence rate of adverse events was similar in both groups. Another total of 15,480 participants with diabetes but no evident cardiovascular disease (CVD) were randomized to receive aspirin at a dose of 100 mg daily or matching placebo in the UK. During a mean follow-up of 7.4 years, serious vascular events (i.e., MI, stroke or TIA, or death from any vascular cause, excluding any confirmed intracranial hemorrhage) occurred in a significantly lower percentage of participants in the aspirin group than in the placebo group (658 participants [8.5%] vs. 743 [9.6%]; HR 0.88). In contrast, major bleeding events occurred in 314 participants (4.1%) in the aspirin group, as compared with 245 (3.2%) in the placebo group (HR 1.29), with most of the excess being gastrointestinal bleeding and other extracranial bleeding. There was no significant difference between the aspirin and the placebo groups in the incidence of gastrointestinal tract cancer or all cancers. The benefits of aspirin for patients with CVD are well established but not in primary prevention. Source: https://www.thelancet.com/; https://www.nejm.org/

hyangiu

Recent Posts

ACS Updates Prostate Cancer Screening Guidance

The American Cancer Society (ACS) concludes that the benefits of PSA-based screening for prostate cancer…

22 hours ago

Proton Pump Inhibitor Use Linked to Dementia Risk in Older Adults

Proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use was modestly associated with incident dementia in older adults (pooled…

2 days ago

Long-Term Outcomes of Invasive vs Conservative Management in Stable Coronary Disease: Consistent Evidence From Extended Follow-Up Trials

Extended follow-up of three major trials consistently shows that an initial invasive strategy does not…

3 days ago

Antidepressants Differ in Efficacy and Acceptability in Long-Term Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder

Escitalopram, duloxetine, and agomelatine achieved higher sustained response rates than fluoxetine, while escitalopram and duloxetine…

3 days ago

Intensive BP Control Reduces Cardiovascular Events After Ischemic Stroke

Targeting a systolic blood pressure (BP) of less than 120 mm Hg lowered the incidence…

6 days ago

No Significant Reduction in Major Cardiovascular Events with Intensive BP Lowering in T2D

In patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and high cardiovascular risk, targeting a systolic blood…

6 days ago

This website uses cookies.