Aspirin headache revived: Study finds CVD preventive effect
But findings are less applicable as patients age, says Australian expert
Aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease could be beneficial in a small group of patients provided they have a higher baseline risk of CV events, an NZ study suggests.
The findings, which run Âcounter to Australian guidelines advising against aspirin for primary prevention, highlight the importance of individualised benefit-harm analyses in high-risk patients, the University of Auckland researchers say.
They analysed data from 245,000 primary care patients aged between 30 and 79 who had their five-year CVD risk assessed using the NZ-developed PREDICT program.
The aim was to identify those in whom the absolute benefits of aspirin prophylaxis might outweigh its absolute bleeding harms.
