Loading...
Aspirin's benefits in preventing cardiovascular (CV) events in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) are clear. The benefit in patients not known to have CVD is more modest and has not been weighed fully against the risk for bleeding. In this meta-analysis, researchers analyzed data from nine randomized, controlled trials of aspirin use in primary prevention; most of the 102,000 participants (mean age, 57; 47% men) were at elevated risk for CVD.
During mean follow-up of 6 years, nearly 2200 CV events were identified, including 1540 nonfatal myocardial infarctions (MIs) and 592 fatal events. More than 10,000 nontrivial bleeding events (defined in various studies as gastrointestinal bleeding, hemorrhagic stroke, nasal bleeding, and hematu…