Does Contemporary Trial Evidence Support the Routine Use of Aspirin in Primary Prevention of Heart Disease?
Although current guidelines generally recommend routine use of aspirin for primary prevention of heart disease in men and stroke in women, a meta-analysis of nine trials (104,331 patients) that had evaluated the efficacy of aspirin use in primary prevention of cardiovascular events suggests that aspirin therapy does not result in significant reduction in serious vascular events in either gender. The study indicated that aspirin therapy resulted in a minimal reduction in cardiovascular events, but it also resulted in a modest increase in bleeding risk. “The results of this study challenge current guidelines regarding aspirin use for cardiovascular disease prevention,” said Sanjay Kaul, M.D., director of the Vascular Physiology and Thrombosis Research Laboratory at the Burns and Allen Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai. Dronedarone: New Atrial Fibrillation Drug Not Recommended as a “First Choice” Recently approved as a therapy for patients with atrial fibrillation/flutter, Dronedarone wa
