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Study: Aspirin did not reduce risk for heart attack in patients with RA
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Aspirin did not reduce the risk for heart attack in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to recently published data.
Josefina Durán, MD, MSc, in the Department of Rheumatology at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile School of Medicine and in the Clinical Epidemiology Unit at Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues searched The Health Improvement Network database to identify adults from the United Kingdom aged older than 60 years and did not include those with a history of myocardial infarction (MI), angina, stroke, peripheral vascular disease or coronary artery procedures. The study outcome was fatal and nonfatal MI. Researchers performed a case-crossover study with each patient having contributed a hazard period and control period 90 days before MI. To limit confounding variables, researchers performed a propensity score (PS)-matched cohort study with patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and an incident prescription of low-dose aspirin as the exposed group.
Researchers found no protective effect in the case-crossover study (odds ratio = 1.83), with 55 patients in the hazard period and 44 patients in the control period. Among 1,836 patients in the PS-matched study, there was also no protective effect of aspirin against MI (hazard ratio = 1.39). – by Will Offit
Disclosure: Researchers report grant funding from the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Center.
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