The results of a meta-analysis suggest that the benefits of aspirin treatment for cardiovascular (CV) risk reduction are similar for diabetics and nondiabetics.

“Several guidelines, including those of the American Diabetes Association, recommend aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes,” say Victor Montori (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA) and colleagues.

However, the findings of several studies previously reported by MedWire News have suggested that diabetics may gain less CV benefit from aspirin therapy than nondiabetics.

To assess this further, Montori and co-workers carried out a meta-analysis of nine randomized controlled trials involving 89,392 participants in total.

To be eligible for analysis, the studies had to have enrolled patients with diabetes and no prior history of myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke and assessed the efficacy of aspirin at any dose. Study duration ranged from 2.3 to 10.1 years, and researchers followed participants up for mortality, MI, and stroke.

As reported in the journal Diabetes Care, the team found that when patients with diabetes who were taking aspirin were compared with nondiabetics taking aspirin there were no statistically significant differences in mortality, MI, or ischemic stroke.

“While there are insufficient data among patients with diabetes to conclusively show a benefit of aspirin therapy for the primary prevention of cardiovascular events, our data suggest, but do not confirm, that the relative benefit of aspirin is similar in patients with and without diabetes,” conclude Montori et al.

“Additional evidence from randomized controlled trials and individual-patient-data meta-analyses may help to further clarify this issue.”

MedWire (www.medwire-news.md) is an independent clinical news service provided by Current Medicine Group, a trading division of Springer Healthcare Limited. © Springer Healthcare Ltd; 2009

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