No Benefit for Aspirin in Diabetic Patients Without Symptomatic CVD

Antiplatelet drugs lower risk for adverse cardiovascular events in diabetic patients with established cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, whether antiplatelet drugs lower risk for adverse cardiovascular events in diabetic patients without symptomatic CVD is unclear. In this multicenter trial from Scotland, investigators randomized 1276 type 1 or 2 diabetic patients with asymptomatic peripheral vascular disease (ankle-brachial index, ≤0.99; age, ≥40) to aspirin (100 mg) plus antioxidant (containing vitamins B₃, B₆, C, and E, plus lecithin, selenium, and zinc), aspirin plus placebo, antioxidant plus placebo, or double placebo. Patients with symptomatic CVD were excluded.

The composite endpoint (death from coronary heart disease or stroke, n…