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Aspirin clearly is beneficial for preventing secondary adverse cardiovascular events in patients with known coronary artery disease, but its benefit in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is unclear. In this meta-analysis, researchers examined 18 prospective randomized controlled trials, involving more than 5000 patients with PAD; in 7 trials, aspirin alone was tested (100–1500 mg daily), in 7, aspirin (25–325 mg) in combination with varying doses of dipyridamole was evaluated, and 4 had multiple arms. Follow-up ranged from 10 days to almost 7 years.
Adverse cardiovascular events (stroke, myocardial infarction, or cardiovascular death) occurred less often among aspirin patients than among control patients (8.9% vs. 11.0%), but a …