ABOUT THE ASPREE STUDY

ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly) 

 

• ASPREE is the largest primary prevention aspirin study ever undertaken in healthy older people.
• It examines whether daily low-dose aspirin may prevent or delay the onset of age-related illness such as cardiovascular disease (heart attack and stroke), dementia, depression and certain cancers and if the benefits outweigh the risks, such as bleeding.
• ASPREE is a randomised, double-blind placebo controlled study of 16,703 Australian males and females, 70 years of age and older.
• Participants were randomly assigned (or randomised) to take either a low-dose aspirin tablet (100mg) or a matching placebo tablet (dummy pill) for an average of 4.7 years.
• The study enrolled 19,114 healthy participants in urban, regional and rural locations throughout Australia and the United States.
• Annual visits involved a number of health, clinical and other measurements. Significant abnormalities were reported to the participant’s provider for clinical follow up
• The trial has several sub-studies, which investigated the effect of aspirin on specific diseases.
• ASPREE was funded by the USA and Australian governments.
• Monash University leads the trial in Australia and the Berman Center for Outcomes and Clinical Research in the USA.
• Main study findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2018. Read the accompanying NIA and Monash University press releases.
• Further ASPREE study findings are being prepared for publication.

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 dementia, depression and some types of cancer from happening in the first place. However, this has never been proven.

ASPREE addressed 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.

People are 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 enrolled healthy older people, aiming to discover how to maintain years of good quality of life. The results will be relevant to many ageing people around the world.