Aspirin in Older Adults: Need for Wider Utilization in Secondary Prevention and Individual Clinical Judgments in...

In the treatment or secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), there is general consensus that the absolute benefits of aspirin far outweigh the absolute risks. Despite evidence from randomized trials and their meta-analyses, older adults, defined as aged 65 years or older, are less likely to be prescribed aspirin than their middle-aged counterparts. In primary prevention, the optimal utilization of aspirin is widely debated. There is insufficient randomized evidence among apparently healthy participants at moderate to high risk of a first CVD event, so general guidelines seem premature. Among older adults, randomized data are even more sparse but trials are ongoing. Further, older adults commonly take multiple medications due to comorbidities, which may increase deleterious interactions and side effects. Older adults have higher risks of occlusive events as well as bleeding. All these considerations support the need for individual clinical judgments in prescribing aspirin in the context of therapeutic lifestyle changes and other adjunctive drug therapies. These include statins for lipids and usually multiple drugs to achieve control of high blood pressure. As regards aspirin, the clinician should weigh the absolute benefit on occlusion against the absolute risk of bleeding. These issues should be considered with each patient to facilitate an informed and person-centered individual clinical judgment. The use of aspirin in primary prevention is particularly attractive because the drug is generally over the counter and, for developing countries where CVD is becoming the leading cause of death, is extremely inexpensive. The more widespread use of aspirin in older adults with prior CVD will confer net benefits to risks and even larger net benefits to costs in the United States as well as other developed and developing countries. In primary prevention among older adults, individual clinical judgments should be made by the health-care professional and each of his or her patients.