In Reply: Aspirin for primary prevention

Authors' reply on aspirin for primary prevention.

Aspirin for Primary Prevention: A Challenging Decision

A spirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a challenging issue for clinicians, patients, and health policy makers. Even with the availability of multiple randomized trials and several high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses, significant debate remains about which patients, if any, should be offered aspirin for primary prevention. The main US guideline-issu...

Aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality.1 For example, in 2000, it accounted directly for around 2 million deaths in the European Union.2 Worldwide, many people take aspirin daily in the belief that doing so helps to prevent CVD. This approach is established for the secondary prevention of recurrent vascular events. However, there has been some uncertainty about the place o...

Is aspirin useful in primary prevention?

There is no evidence that aspirin is effective for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events, although it may change the way that they present. Indeed, there is no evidence that long-term aspirin should be given to patients even with known cardiovascular disease. Theoretical arguments that aspirin can prevent cardiovascular events by reducing the propagation of thrombus are countered by e...

Aspirin in primary prevention: USPSTF recommendations

Recent clinical studies such as the Japanese Primary Prevention trial (JPAD) and the Aspirin for Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis study (AAA) have resulted in considerable debate on when and for whom aspirin should be given as primary prevention for vascular events. The US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) has recently updated its recommendations from new evidence on the benefit and harm of...