https://www.mdlinx.com/family-medicine/medical-news-article/2016/12/02/6966532/?
University of Southern California Health News, 12/02/2016
The
daily regimen by older patients shows multiple health benefits and a
reduction in health care spending, according to researchers.
For older Americans with a high risk of heart disease, taking low–dose aspirin every day could reduce their risk of a heart attack, prevent some cancers and cancer death, extend their lives and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients over the course of 20 years, according to a new USC study.
In addition, USC researchers who conducted the study found that a daily aspirin regimen by older patients would result in an estimated net health benefit worth $692 billion for the U.S. population.
Their findings were published Nov. 30 in the journal PLOS ONE.
“Although the health benefits of aspirin are well established, few people take it,” said lead author David B. Agus, the founding director and CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine at USC, and a USC professor of medicine and engineering. “Our study shows multiple health benefits and a reduction in health care spending from this simple, low–cost measure that should be considered a standard part of care for the appropriate patient.”
The long–term benefits of low–dose, daily aspirin were questioned this year after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government–backed panel of experts, issued updated aspirin guidelines that declared the clinical benefit of aspirin, but seemed at odds with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is concerned that some patients, particularly those 60 and older, face an increased risk of stroke and bleeding – both gastrointestinal and in the brain – if they take aspirin daily.
To assess the long–term benefits of aspirin, the USC researchers ran two scenarios through the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Economics and Policy’s Future Elderly Model, which projects the health of older Americans and their trajectory in aging. It relies on national data sets: the U.S. Health and Retirement Study of Americans 51 and older, the large–scale Medical Expenditure Panel Survey of non–institutionalized Americans and the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. The researchers also relied on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The model accounts for individual health characteristics such as chronic disease, the ability to conduct daily activities, body mass index and mortality.
The first scenario in the USC aspirin study, the “Guideline Adherence,” focused on determining the potential health and savings, benefits and drawbacks of following the task force’s guidelines from 2009. The second scenario, “Universal Eligibility,” was not realistic and aimed to measure the full potential benefits and drawbacks if all Americans 51 and older, regardless of the guidelines, took aspirin every day.
The researchers found that following the guidelines would prevent 11 cases of heart disease and four cases of cancer for every 1,000 Americans aged 51 to 79. Life expectancy would improve by 0.3 years (largely disability–free), so out of 1,000 people, eight more would reach age 80 and three more would reach the age of 100.
For older Americans with a high risk of heart disease, taking low–dose aspirin every day could reduce their risk of a heart attack, prevent some cancers and cancer death, extend their lives and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of patients over the course of 20 years, according to a new USC study.
In addition, USC researchers who conducted the study found that a daily aspirin regimen by older patients would result in an estimated net health benefit worth $692 billion for the U.S. population.
Their findings were published Nov. 30 in the journal PLOS ONE.
“Although the health benefits of aspirin are well established, few people take it,” said lead author David B. Agus, the founding director and CEO of the Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine at USC, and a USC professor of medicine and engineering. “Our study shows multiple health benefits and a reduction in health care spending from this simple, low–cost measure that should be considered a standard part of care for the appropriate patient.”
The long–term benefits of low–dose, daily aspirin were questioned this year after the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government–backed panel of experts, issued updated aspirin guidelines that declared the clinical benefit of aspirin, but seemed at odds with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is concerned that some patients, particularly those 60 and older, face an increased risk of stroke and bleeding – both gastrointestinal and in the brain – if they take aspirin daily.
To assess the long–term benefits of aspirin, the USC researchers ran two scenarios through the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Economics and Policy’s Future Elderly Model, which projects the health of older Americans and their trajectory in aging. It relies on national data sets: the U.S. Health and Retirement Study of Americans 51 and older, the large–scale Medical Expenditure Panel Survey of non–institutionalized Americans and the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey. The researchers also relied on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The model accounts for individual health characteristics such as chronic disease, the ability to conduct daily activities, body mass index and mortality.
The first scenario in the USC aspirin study, the “Guideline Adherence,” focused on determining the potential health and savings, benefits and drawbacks of following the task force’s guidelines from 2009. The second scenario, “Universal Eligibility,” was not realistic and aimed to measure the full potential benefits and drawbacks if all Americans 51 and older, regardless of the guidelines, took aspirin every day.
The researchers found that following the guidelines would prevent 11 cases of heart disease and four cases of cancer for every 1,000 Americans aged 51 to 79. Life expectancy would improve by 0.3 years (largely disability–free), so out of 1,000 people, eight more would reach age 80 and three more would reach the age of 100.
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