:: June 2009

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Highlighted Article

Aspirin administered to women at 100 mg every other day produces less platelet inhibition than aspirin administered at 81 mg per day: implications for interpreting the women's health study. (J Thromb Thrombolysis. 2008) “We observed that the degree of platelet inhibition was significantly less with aspirin 100 mg every other day compared with aspirin 81 mg daily, suggesting that results of the Women's Health Study may have underestimated both the efficacy and toxicity of aspirin as it is commonly administered. These data need to be considered when developing recommendations about the use of aspirin in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in women.”

Clinical Guidelines

NGC - Anticoagulation therapy supplement. (2005)

NGC - Antithrombotic and thrombolytic therapy for ischemic stroke: the Seventh ACCP Conference on Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Therapy. (2004)

NGC - Antithrombotic therapy for coronary artery disease: the Seventh ACCP Conference on Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Therapy. (2004)

NGC - Expert consensus document on the use of antiplatelet agents. The task force on the use of antiplatelet agents in patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease of the European Society of Cardiology. (2004)

NGC - Use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs: an update for clinicians. A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. (2007)

Internet Sites

Featured site

NIH - Salicylates (Systemic)

Aspirin

NIH - Aspirin and Codeine

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Aspirin overdose

Related Topics - Highlighted Articles

Cardiovascular: General

Epidemiological modelling of routine use of low dose aspirin for the primary prevention of coronary heart disease and stroke in those aged 70 (BMJ 2005) "Objective To investigate the routine use of low dose aspirin in people aged 70 without overt cardiovascular disease. Ä Conclusion Epidemiological modelling suggests that any benefits of low dose aspirin on risk of cardiovascular disease in people aged 70 are offset by adverse events. These findings are tempered by wide confidence intervals, indicating that the overall outcome could be beneficial or adverse."

Cardiovascular: Stroke

The significance of prestroke aspirin dosage in fatal outcome of acute stroke. (Clin Neuropharmacol. 2005) "BACKGROUND: Aspirin is an effective and generally accepted treatment drug during the acute stage of ischemic brain infarction. Ä CONCLUSION: Prestroke medium-dose aspirin treatment was associated with reduced 30-day poststroke mortality, whereas low-dose prestroke aspirin therapy was associated with increased 30-day poststroke mortality."

In this newsletter:

General Information

	General Information
Benefit Of Aspirin For Healthy People Is Uncertain “The authors conclude: ‘Aspirin is of clear benefit for people who already have cardiovascular disease, but the latest research does not seem to justify general guidelines advocating the routine use of aspirin in all healthy individuals above a moderate level of risk for coronary heart disease.’ When prescribing aspirin to healthy individuals, it is important to consider the potential of such a policy to cause harm. Professor Baigent adds: ‘Drug safety really matters when making recommendations for tens of millions of healthy people. We don’t have good evidence that, for healthy people, the benefits of long-term aspirin exceed the risks by an appropriate margin.’ “