Low-dose aspirin and subsequent peripheral arterial surgery in the Physicians' Health Study

Abstract

In the US Physicians' Health Study the early termination of the aspirin arm has provided the opportunity to test the hypothesis that low-dose aspirin (325 mg on alternate days) might affect the subsequent occurrence of peripheral arterial surgery. In the study, a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial among 22,071 healthy US male physicians aged 40-84, there were, during an average of 60.2 months of treatment and follow-up, 56 participants who underwent peripheral arterial surgery (20 aspirin, 36 placebo). The relative risk of peripheral artery surgery in the aspirin group was 0.54 (95% confidence intervals 0.30-0.95; p = 0.03). These data indicate that chronic administration of low-dose aspirin to apparently healthy men reduced the need for peripheral arterial surgery.