Population Trends in Aspirin Use for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention 1980-2009: The Minnesota Heart Survey.

BACKGROUND: Daily low-dose aspirin is recommended for primary prevention of myocardial infarction and stroke in higher-risk patients. Population trends in aspirin use for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in an urban population (Minneapolis/St. Paul, 2010 population 2.85 million) from 1980 to 2009 were evaluated.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Surveys of randomly selected adults aged 25 to 74 years were collected at 5-year intervals. Self-reports of regular aspirin use for CVD prevention and history of CVD were obtained. Six cross-sectional surveys included 12 281 men and 14 258 women. Age-adjusted aspirin use for primary prevention increased during this period from 1% to 21% among men and 1% to 12% among women. Aspirin use was highest in those aged 65 to 74 years. For secondary prevention, age-adjusted aspirin use increased from 19% to 74% among men and 11% to 64% among women. While data are based on self-report, a substudy using a biochemical indicator of aspirin use (serum thromboxane B2) supports the validity of self-report.

CONCLUSIONS: Aspirin for CVD prevention is commonly used by a large and growing portion of the general population. It is not known if this is based on professional advice or self-prescribed use. It is also likely that many who would benefit do not use aspirin and others use aspirin inappropriately.