Aspirin Does Not Prevent Heart Attacks and Strokes in Diabetics

New Study Backs Up Findings From Previous Studies

Aspirin, long used as a primary preventative measure against heart attack and stroke, does not provide diabetics with that same protection, according to a new study just published in the British Medical Journal. Specifically, the study found that diabetics with peripheral arterial disease who were randomized to aspirin, had no reduction in fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, compared to their counterparts who received placebo.

Additionally, the study failed to find any benefit for antioxidants in preventing primary cardiovascular events. After 8 years, the number of heart attacks and strokes that occurred in the groups given antioxidants, aspirin or placebo, was approximately the same.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. William Hiatt, of the University of Colorado, Denver, said these findings should not come as a surprise, as there have been 6 other studies that failed to show benefit for aspirin as primary prevention, even in at-risk patients. He goes on to write that "although aspirin is cheap and universally available, practitioners and authors of guidelines need to heed the evidence that aspirin should be prescribed only in patients with established symptomatic cardiovascular disease."

This study raises questions around preventable deaths in patients given aspirin to no beneficial effect.

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Published on Oct-17-08