The outcome of the trial?
Don’t we already know enough about aspirin?
Aspirin is often prescribed for ‘secondary prevention’ in people who have had a heart attack or stroke because research demonstrates that in this instance, the benefit of preventing another heart attack or stroke clearly outweighs the risks, such as bleeding. Other studies indicate that aspirin
may help prevent or delay the onset of cardiovascular disease, dementia, depression and some types of cancer from happening in the first place. However, this has never been proven.
Many world health authorities are reluctant to recommend that healthy older people take low-dose aspirin for ‘primary prevention’ (to prevent a first heart attack or stroke), not because the risks are higher – people taking aspirin for secondary prevention are also at risk of side-effects – but because there is a lack of evidence about aspirin’s overall benefit in older, healthy people. Very few primary prevention aspirin studies have included people aged over 70. For the first time, ASPREE will weigh the potential benefits versus the potential risks, in healthy older people.
People are also living longer. If life expectancy continues along the same trajectory as history, it is predicted that 50% of Australian babies born today will live to be over 100. At the heart of the ASPREE study is a goal to discover how to maintain years of good quality life within that increased lifespan. This is why the ASPREE study is so important: the trial focusses only on older people, aiming to discover how to maintain years of good quality of life through disease prevention. The results will be relevant to many ageing people around the world.