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No other medication is as cost-effective as aspirin for preventing cardiovascular events. However, it must be understood that low-dose aspirin is not completely harmless, as “low-dose” may imply. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) is urging health care providers to recognize that despite decades of evidence that aspirin can prevent heart attacks, some patients are still not receiving this simple and cost-effective therapy.
The newly revised "ASHP Therapeutic Position Statement on the Daily Use of Aspirin for Preventing Cardiovascular Events," affirms that daily use of aspirin, in combination with other effective drug therapies and modifying controllable risk factors, can prevent first and subsequent heart attacks.
"A daily aspirin is simple, inexpensive, and very effective, yet not all eligible patients are receiving this therapy," said ASHP President Jill E. Martin, Pharm.D., FASHP. "That means we are missing opportunities to help patients avoid the devastating effects of heart attacks."
The therapeutic position statement acknowledges the importance of assessing a patient’s risk for bleeding, which can be a serious adverse effect of taking aspirin. he best way to reduce the chance of a heart attack is to combine aspirin therapy with changing controllable risk factors, such as obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.
In an accompanying editorial, "Low-Dose Aspirin: Major Benefits, Minimal Cost," Steven Chen, Pharm.D., FASHP, CDM, points to "confusion among prescribers about how to identify appropriate candidates for daily low-dose aspirin." Chen urges health care professionals to develop systems in hospitals and health systems to better identify patients for which this therapy is indicated.
The article "ASHP Therapeutic Position Statement on the Daily Use of Aspirin for Preventing Cardiovascular Events," by Joseph J. Saseen, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS, can be retrieved online at ajhp.org/cgi/content/full/62/13/1398. The editorial, "Low-Dose Aspirin: Major Benefits, Minimal Cost," can be retrieved at ajhp.org/cgi/content/full/62/13/1357.
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