Taking a low-dose aspirin daily does not prolong healthy living in older adults, according to findings from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial published online Sept. 16 in three papers in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Taking a low-dose aspirin daily does not prolong healthy living in older adults, according to findings from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial published online Sept. 16 in three papers in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The large clinical trial, which began in 2010, aimed to determine the risks and benefits of daily low-dose aspirin in healthy older adults without previous cardiovascular events, dementia or physical disability, and who were free of medical conditions requiring aspirin use. The results showed that aspirin did not extend healthy independent living (life free of dementia or persistent physical disability). Risk of dying from a range of causes, including cancer and heart disease, varied and will require further analysis and additional follow-up of study participants.
“This work is a key milestone in the more than a decade-long engagement in this large-scale clinical trial in the United States and Australia,” said Dr. Raj C. Shah, an associate professor of family medicine with the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago.
Shah served as principal investigator of the ASPREE trial at Rush University Medical Center, which was an enrollment site for the study through the patient-oriented research team of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Shah also served on the governance of the entire study as a member of its International Steering Committee, and as co-U.S. investigator with Dr. Anne Murray at the Berman Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Read more at Rush University Medical Center
Image: This is Dr. Raj C. Shah. (Credit: Rush University Medical Center)
