Population Trends in Aspirin Use for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention 1980–2009: The Minnesota Heart Survey

Abstract

Background Daily low‐dose aspirin is recommended for primary prevention of myocardial infarction and stroke in higher‐risk patients. Population trends in aspirin use for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in an urban population (Minneapolis/St. Paul, 2010 population 2.85 million) from 1980 to 2009 were evaluated. Methods and Results Surveys of randomly selected adults aged 25 to 74 years were collected at 5‐year intervals. Self‐reports of regular aspirin use for CVD prevention and history of CVD were obtained. Six cross‐sectional surveys included 12 281 men and 14 258 women. Age‐adjusted aspirin use for primary prevention increased during this period from 1% to 21% among men and 1% to 12% among women. Aspirin use was highest in those aged 65 to 74 years. For secondary prevention, age‐adjusted aspirin use increased from 19% to 74% among men and 11% to 64% among women. While data are based on self‐report, a substudy using a biochemical indicator of aspirin use (serum thromboxane B2) supports the validity of self‐report. Conclusions Aspirin for CVD prevention is commonly used by a large and growing portion of the general population. It is not known if this is based on professional advice or self‐prescribed use. It is also likely that many who would benefit do not use aspirin and others use aspirin inappropriately.

Keywords

• aspirin
• epidemiology
• prevention