Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2008 Sep 1:337:a1198.
doi: 10.1136/bmj.a1198.

Low dose aspirin and cognitive function in middle aged to elderly adults: randomised controlled trial

Jackie F Price  1 , Marlene C Stewart, Ian J Deary, Gordon D Murray, Peter Sandercock, Isabella Butcher, F Gerald R Fowkes; AAA Trialists
Collaborators, Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Low dose aspirin and cognitive function in middle aged to elderly adults: randomised controlled trial

Jackie F Price et al. BMJ. .

Abstract

Objective: To determine the effects of low dose aspirin on cognitive function in middle aged to elderly men and women at moderately increased cardiovascular risk.

Design: Randomised double blind placebo controlled trial.

Setting: Central Scotland.

Participants: 3350 men and women aged over 50 participating in the aspirin for asymptomatic atherosclerosis trial.

Intervention: Low dose aspirin (100 mg daily) or placebo for five years.

Main outcome measures: Tests of memory, executive function, non-verbal reasoning, mental flexibility, and information processing five years after randomisation, with scores used to create a summary cognitive score (general factor).

Results: At baseline, mean vocabulary scores (an indicator of previous cognitive ability) were similar in the aspirin (30.9, SD 4.7) and placebo (31.1, SD 4.7) groups. In the primary intention to treat analysis, there was no significant difference at follow-up between the groups in the proportion achieving over the median general factor cognitive score (32.7% and 34.8% respectively, odds ratio 0.91, 95% confidence interval 0.79 to 1.05, P=0.20) or in mean scores on the individual cognitive tests. There were also no significant differences in change in cognitive ability over the five years in a subset of 504 who underwent detailed cognitive testing at baseline.

Conclusion: Low dose aspirin does not affect cognitive function in middle aged to elderly people at increased cardiovascular risk.

Trial registration: ISRCTN 66587262.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Figures

None
Study population and follow-up. *At least one cognitive test in battery of tests completed. †Breakdown of reasons for loss to follow-up by treatment allocation not given to preserve blinding within main trial until cardiovascular end point reached. See text for breakdown of reasons for total trial population (including 160 deaths)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Hedden T, Gabrieli JDE. Insights into the ageing mind: a view from cognitive neuroscience. Nat Rev Neurosci 2004;5:87-97. - PubMed
    1. Kavanagh S, Knapp M. Cognitive disability and direct care costs for elderly people. Br J Psychiatry 1999;174:539-46. - PubMed
    1. Breteler MMB, Claus JJ, Grobbee DE, Hofman A. Cardiovascular disease and distribution of cognitive function in elderly people: the Rotterdam study. BMJ 1994;308:1604-8 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Johnston SC, O’Meara ES, Manolio TA, Lefkowitz D, O’Leary DH, Goldstein S, et al. Cognitive impairment and decline are associated with carotid artery disease in patients without clinically evident cerebrovascular disease. Ann Intern Med 2004;140:237-47. - PubMed
    1. Fourrier A, Letenneur L, Begaud B, Dartigues JF. Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug use and cognitive function in the elderly: inconclusive results from a population-based cohort study. J Clin Epidemiol 1996;49:1201. - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data