Benefits vs. Risk of Aspirin Use in Diabetes

[Northerner]

Recent study demonstrates prevention of serious vascular events with aspirin use in diabetes; however, participants also experienced major bleeding events.

It is well known that aspirin use is beneficial for patients who have cardiovascular disease, but it is less transparent for those who have not yet had a cardiovascular event. Patients with diabetes have a two-to-three-times greater risk of having a vascular event, compared to those without the disease. There have been previous studies to compare risk vs. benefit for patients taking a daily low-dose aspirin, but only a few have made comparisons in patients with diabetes. Researchers performed the ASCEND (A Study of Cardiovascular Events in Diabetes) randomized trial to examine the efficacy and safety of 100 mg aspirin, as compared with placebo, in patients with diabetes and without any cardiovascular events prior to trial entry.

http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/benefits-vs-risk-of-aspirin-use-in-diabetes/

 

[mikeyB]

Wonder what the eligibility was at the beginning of the trial. Could be age, could be diabetes type, could be smokers. Who knows? I’d be happier if we were told, but otherwise looks like a well costructed trial.

Whether this will kick off a standard recommended therapy, I don’t know. And would 50mg work? Sir Richard Doll, when asked about dosage, said that he kept an aspirin tablet in the bathroom and licked it before bed. Died age 92.

 

[Vicsetter]

Odd i get 75mg (not 100mg) tablet and persuaded my gp to give me the enteric coated version, so hopefully less likely to have problems.

 

[trophywench]

Aspirin always gives me raging heartburn so I suppose I'm 'lucky' (???) to now have intermittent claudication so be on Clopidogrel - which oddly doesn't cause me to have heartburn every day but does cause acid reflux and heartburn whenever I eat anything particularly fatty - hence I try to avoid too much greasy food which has never been a thing I'm particularly fond of anyway so is no bad thing all in all.

I reckon 'Claude' is self inflicted anyway (I still smoke) so has nowt whatever to do with Dai ! LOL

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Whether this will kick off a standard recommended therapy, I don’t know.

Likely it'll influence guidelines, reinforcing the trend against recommending these low doses of aspirin as a general thing. (I seem to remember there was a suggestion that the whole population over some age might be given a combination of aspirin, statin and ACE inhibitor. Don't think it's gone anywhere, but presumably aspirin would be looking less attractive if anyone were still pushing it.)

(I was on 75mg daily aspirin for a few years, but that was stopped a while ago after the studies that suggested benefits and costs were typically about even.)

 

[grovesy]

Likely it'll influence guidelines, reinforcing the trend against recommending these low doses of aspirin as a general thing. (I seem to remember there was a suggestion that the whole population over some age might be given a combination of aspirin, statin and ACE inhibitor. Don't think it's gone anywhere, but presumably aspirin would be looking less attractive if anyone were still pushing it.)

(I was on 75mg daily aspirin for a few years, but that was stopped a while ago after the studies that suggested benefits and costs were typically about even.)

I was too!