Can
Aspirin prolong a healthy life? Wake
Forest Baptist to test the benefits of
Aspirin
Newswise, July 2010 — In an effort to extend the length of a
disability-free life for older adults,
researchers from Wake Forest University
Baptist Medical Center are partnering with
colleagues from across the US and Australia
in the largest international trial ever
sponsored by the US National Institute on
Aging (NIA).
The
Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly
(ASPREE) study aims to assess whether
aspirin can not only prolong life, but a
life free of physical disability and/or
dementia for healthy older people.
According to Jamehl Demons, M.D., an
assistant professor of geriatric medicine
and an ASPREE investigator from Wake Forest
Baptist, “We have, through technology, been
able to prolong life but not necessarily
function in our seniors. This study will
allow us to look at a possible mechanism for
maintaining functional independence. The
population of age 70+ is such a vulnerable
one for functional decline; this is the
perfect group to target for interventions
such as aspirin.”
While
it is known that aspirin prevents heart
attacks and strokes in people with
established heart disease – benefits which
clearly outweigh any risks associated with
aspirin, such as bleeding – the role of
aspirin in people without a history of
cardiovascular disease is less certain.
“In
the US, Australia and elsewhere, people are
living longer so identifying treatments to
prolong life free of physical disability and
memory problems is increasingly important,”
said ASPREE investigator Anne Murray, M.D.,
MSc, an epidemiologist and geriatrician, and
associate professor of medicine and
geriatrics at the University of Minnesota.
“Aspirin is a potentially useful drug as it
is cheap and widely available.”
To
date, very little information is available
about the overall effects of aspirin in
older adults, because most trials focus on
middle-aged people. The ASPREE study, for
the first time, will determine whether the
potential benefits of low dose aspirin
outweigh the risks specifically for people
age 70 and older.
“Because of its proven effectiveness in
preventing second events, many doctors have
also prescribed aspirin to prevent heart
attacks and strokes in otherwise healthy
people,” said Professor John McNeil, Head of
the Monash School of Public Health and
Preventative Medicine in Australia, and also
a principal investigator for ASPREE.
“However, in the last couple of years,
serious doubts have been raised about the
evidence supporting this practice, and as a
result, editorials in major medical journals
have called for this question to be
settled.”
The
ASPREE study will enroll 6,500 healthy
individuals age 70 and over in the US and
another 12,500 in Australia.
Two
hundred of those participants will be local
from the Triad area. All eligible
participants will be randomly assigned to
take either low dose aspirin or placebo
daily for about 5 years.
Patients will receive initial measurements
on specific health markers, as well as
functional and cognitive ability, and
changes in these will be monitored
throughout the study.
"The
magnitude of this study will mean we will be
able to answer a question looming in minds
of physicians and patients for quite some
time: how to remain mentally and physically
independent as we age," Demons said.
ASPREE is being conducted in clinics and
universities located in select cities in
Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan,
Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas. More
information can be found at www.ASPREE.org.
Originally developed as a pilot study by
Monash University in Australia, the ASPREE
study is being conducted in partnership
between Monash University, the Berman Center
for Outcomes and Clinical Research in
Minneapolis, MN, and the National Institute
on Aging.
Wake
Forest University Baptist Medical Center
(www.wfubmc.edu) is an academic health
system comprised of Wake Forest University
Health Sciences, which operates the
university’s School of Medicine, Wake Forest
University Physicians and North Carolina
Baptist Hospital.
U.S.
News & World Report ranks the School of
Medicine among the nation's best medical and
osteopathic schools: 33rd in primary care,
44th in research, 23rd for its physician
assistant program, and 11th for its joint
program with the UNC-Greensboro to train
nurse anesthetists. Best Doctors in America
includes 214 of the Wake Forest medical
school faculty.
The
institution is in the top third in funding
by the National Institutes of Health and
fourth in the Southeast in revenues from its
licensed intellectual property. The Medical
Center has been ranked as one of “America’s
Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report
since 1993
