WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The study, published in the Annals Of Internal Medicine, disclosed that almost one-third of U.S. adults are still using aspirin for prevention of cardiovascular diseases without proper medical advice.
Mohak Gupta from the Cleveland Clinic, and his colleagues studied the usage of aspirin by older population with the help of data from the National Health Interview Survey Sample Adult component.
'In my clinical practice, I often observed older patients without a history of CVD taking preventive aspirin,' Gupta told Healio. 'This led us to conduct this study to understand the prevalence of preventive aspirin use in the United States, and if this changed after new evidence emerged in 2018.'
The study involved 186,425 participants aged 40 years or older, representing nearly 150 million adults annually.
According to the findings, 18.5 percent of participants aged 40 and above were dependent on aspirin for primary prevention in 2021, whereas 29.7 percent of the adults aged 60 and older used it for the similar purpose, of which 5.2 percent used aspirin without any medical advice.
'This is a critical finding because routine use of primary prevention aspirin in this age group is no longer recommended, as this may cause net harm due to increased bleeding,' Gupta commented.
However, the use of aspirin for primary prevention declined from 2012 to 2017, but a larger decrease was noticed after 2018. In 2021, the medically advised aspirin use was lower compared to the 2012-2017 period.
'Our findings highlight the urgent need for physicians to inquire about aspirin use, including self-use, and engage in risk-benefit discussions to reduce inappropriate use for primary prevention in older adults,' the authors wrote in the research letter.
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