Adherence to guidelines: primary prevention with aspirin in 1125 medical check-up participants

Abstract

Aim: The aim of the present study was to assess the 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and to apply the current recommendations on aspirin use for primary prevention in Korean participants undergoing a medical check-up.

Methods: Adults aged 50 to 69 years were eligible for the study if they did not have a history of atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD) or stroke. The 10-year CVD risk was calculated using the ASCVD risk estimator (http://tools.acc.org/ASCVD-Risk-Estimator).

Results: A total of 1125 participants were enrolled in this study. The mean age was 57 years, and 32% of the participants were women. Based on the 2016 US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations, aspirin was indicated in 266 (23.6%) participants but only 44 (3.9%) participants were taking aspirin regularly. Among these participants, aspirin was prescribed appropriately in 36% of the participants, suggesting that only 6% of the participants were taking aspirin appropriately and 3.3% of the participants were taking aspirin inappropriately. Logistic regression analysis showed that treatment for hypertension was significantly associated with taking aspirin (odds ratio 7.49; 95% confidence interval 3.62-15.49).

Conclusion: Our study suggested that there may be an opportunity for decreasing the rate of CVD as well as the risk for major bleeds through tailored education on aspirin use.

Keywords

Aspirin / cardiovascular disease / guideline / primary prevention / stroke

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