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Long‐term antiplatelet therapy for the prevention of vascular disease
Author(s) -
MacMahon Stephen,
Sharpe Norman
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.1991.tb121183.x
Subject(s) - medicine , aspirin , stroke (engine) , myocardial infarction , clinical trial , incidence (geometry) , disease , vascular disease , randomized controlled trial , platelet aggregation inhibitor , cause of death , intensive care medicine , physical therapy , surgery , mechanical engineering , physics , optics , engineering
Objective To estimate the effects of prolonged antiplatelet therapy on the primary and secondary incidence of vascular disease. Data sources Twenty‐five randomised trials in 29 000 patients with a history of vascular disease (the Antiplatelet Trialists' Collaboration) and two randomised trials in 27 000 individuals without a history of vascular disease (the British doctors' and American physicians' studies). Study selection The Antiplatelet Trialists' Collaboration obtained data from all randomised trials of secondary prevention completed before January 1988. The British doctors' and American physicians' studies are the only two completed randomised trials of primary prevention. Data extraction Data from the secondary prevention trials were provided by the Antiplatelet Trlalists' Collaboration. Data from the primary prevention trials were extracted from the final published reports of these studies. Data synthesis In the secondary prevention trials, antiplatelet therapy reduced the rate of vascular disease by about 15% and the incidence of non‐fatal myocardial infarction and stroke by about 30%. In the American physicians' study, but not the British doctors' study, the incidence of non‐fatal myocardial infarction was also reduced. In neither primary prevention trial was there evidence of reduced rates of non‐fatal stroke or vascular death; overall, fatal or disabling strokes were slightly more frequent among those assigned aspirin. Conclusions For patients with a history of vascular disease, the benefits of antiplatelet therapy appear to outweigh any risks. Among 100 such patients, antiplatelet therapy for two years would prevent one death and two major non‐fatal events. The balance of benefits and risks for individuals without a history of vascular disease is less clear because there is no firm evidence of a net reduction in either vascular death or disabling non‐fatal vascular events among those treated with aspirin.