THURSDAY, Aug. 24, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Aspirin is underused in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a study published online Aug. 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Sang Gune K. Yoo, M.D., from Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues reported and assessed aspirin use for secondary prevention of CVD in a cross-sectional analysis using data from 51 low-, middle-, and high-income countries. The overall pooled sample included 124,505 individuals aged 40 to 69 years.

The researchers found that 8.1 percent of the sample had a self-reported history of CVD. Aspirin use for secondary prevention among individuals with a history of CVD was 40.3 percent in the overall pooled sample. By income group, the estimates were 16.6, 24.5, 51.1, and 65.0 percent in low-, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries, respectively.

“In order to create interventions, we have to understand what is actually going on, which is what we’re trying to establish in this study,” Yoo said in a statement. “Then we can start to think about how to develop strategies to increase evidence-based aspirin use in order to save lives.”

Two authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry; one author reported that their employer has a patent and license, and a second author reported having a patent pending.

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