Potential Adverse Effects of Low Dose Aspirin and Diuretic Drug Combination on Kidney Function

OBJECTIVE: Low dose aspirin and diuretics are commonly co-utilized in patients with cardiovascular diseases. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of low dose aspirin and diuretic drug combination on renal function. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional retrospective study. All patients, excluding those on renal dialysis, admitted to the internal department of Al-Watani hospital were included in the study. Medical data were obtained from patients’ medical files. Estimation of creatinine clearance was carried out using Cockcroft-Gault equation. Patients on the target drug combination were compared with patients who were not on the target drug combination. Independent paired T-test and one way ANOVA were used to test for significance among groups. Statistics were carried out using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 13. RESULTS: Three hundred and forty patients (54.4% men) were included in the study. There were 90 patients on the target drug combination and designated as study group. There were 250 patients, 114 on zero and 136 on only one target medication, in the control group. There was a significant (P < 0.001) difference in the levels of creatinine clearance between the two groups. Patients on the target drug combination had significantly lower creatinine clearance levels than those in the control group. Men in the study group had lower creatinine clearance than men in the control group. Same was found in women. Patients in study group with ≥ 2 chronic diseases had lower creatinine clearance than patients in the control group with ≥ 2 chronic diseases. Same was found in patients with < 2 chronic diseases. CONCLUSION: Low dose aspirin and diuretic drug combination was associated with significantly low creatinine clearance levels independent of gender or number of chronic diseases. Monitoring kidney function for patients on this drug combination is required.