Doctors will soon be able to better target patients for aspirin prophylaxis against cardiovascular events, according to New Zealand researchers who are developing a bleeding risk prediction tool.

However, Australian preventive medicine expert Professor Mark Nelson, chief investigator of the ASPREE trial, cautioned the tool should not trigger a move towards use of aspirin for primary prevention.

The researchers analysed data from 385,000 primary care patients whose five-year CVD risk was assessed using the New Zealand-developed PREDICT CVD risk assessment tool.

The mean age was 56 for women and 51 for men.