Aspirin benefit

Findings of a multicenter follow-up study of "vascular complications" in 1,007 European and Israeli atrial fibrillation patients who had suffered minor strokes suggest that aspirin use could prevent "40 vascular events each year for every 1,000 treated patients." In a comparison of 300 mg aspirin daily, anticoagulant therapies and placebo published in the Nov. 20 Lancet, Peter Koudstall, MD, University Hospital Rotterdam Dijkzigt, et al. found that anticoagulant therapy was the most effective at preventing events (with an estimated 90 in 1,000 prevented), but that aspirin was a "safe, though less effective alternative where anticoagulation is counterindicated".