TY - JOUR
T1 - All-cause mortality following low-dose aspirin treatment for patients with high cardiovascular risk in remote Australian Aboriginal communities
T2 - An observational study
AU - Zhao, Yuejen
AU - Jeyaraman, Kanakamani
AU - Burgess, Paul
AU - Connors, Christine
AU - Guthridge, Steven
AU - Maple-Brown, Louise
AU - Falhammar, Henrik
N1 - Funding HF was supported by the Magnus Bergvall Foundation (2017-02138 and 2018-02566), Karolinska Institutet (2016fobi49958) and the Stockholm County Council (20130614). LMB is supported by NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (1078477).
PY - 2020/1/2
Y1 - 2020/1/2
N2 - To evaluate the benefit and risk of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) in patients from remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Australia. Design Retrospective cohort study using primary care and hospital data routinely used for healthcare. Aspirin users and non-users were compared before and after controlling confounders by matching. Marginal structural models (MSM) were applied to ascertain the benefit and risk. Setting The benefit and harm of aspirin were investigated in patients aged ≥18 years from 54 remote Aboriginal communities. Participants None had a previous cardiovascular event or major bleeds. Patients on anticoagulants or other antiplatelets were excluded. Intervention Aspirin at a dose of 75-162 mg/day. Outcome measures Endpoints were all-cause, cardiovascular mortality and incidences of cardiovascular events and major bleeds. Results 8167 predominantly Aboriginal adults were included and followed between July 2009 and June 2017 (aspirin users n=1865, non-users n=6302, mean follow-up 4 years with hospitalisations 6.4 per person). Univariate analysis found material differences in demographics, prevalence of chronic diseases and outcome measures between aspirin users and non-users before matching. After matching, aspirin was significantly associated with reduced all-cause mortality (HR=0.45: 95% CI 0.34 to 0.60; p<0.001), but not bleeding (HR=1.13: 95% CI 0.39 to 3.26; p=0.820). After using MSMs to eliminate the effects of confounders, loss of follow-up and time dependency of treatment, aspirin was associated with reduced all-cause mortality (HR=0.60: 95% CI 0.47 to 0.76; p<0.001), independent of age (HR=1.06; p<0.001), presence of diabetes (HR=1.42; p<0.001), hypertension (HR=1.61; p<0.001) and alcohol abuse (HR=1.81; p<0.001). No association between aspirin and major bleeding was found (HR=1.14: 95% CI 0.48 to 2.73; p=0.765). Sensitivity analysis suggested these findings were unlikely to have been the result of unmeasured confounding. Conclusion Aspirin was associated with reduced all-cause mortality. Bleeding risk was less compared with survival benefits. Aspirin should be considered for primary prevention in Aboriginal people with high cardiovascular risk.
AB - To evaluate the benefit and risk of low-dose acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) in patients from remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Australia. Design Retrospective cohort study using primary care and hospital data routinely used for healthcare. Aspirin users and non-users were compared before and after controlling confounders by matching. Marginal structural models (MSM) were applied to ascertain the benefit and risk. Setting The benefit and harm of aspirin were investigated in patients aged ≥18 years from 54 remote Aboriginal communities. Participants None had a previous cardiovascular event or major bleeds. Patients on anticoagulants or other antiplatelets were excluded. Intervention Aspirin at a dose of 75-162 mg/day. Outcome measures Endpoints were all-cause, cardiovascular mortality and incidences of cardiovascular events and major bleeds. Results 8167 predominantly Aboriginal adults were included and followed between July 2009 and June 2017 (aspirin users n=1865, non-users n=6302, mean follow-up 4 years with hospitalisations 6.4 per person). Univariate analysis found material differences in demographics, prevalence of chronic diseases and outcome measures between aspirin users and non-users before matching. After matching, aspirin was significantly associated with reduced all-cause mortality (HR=0.45: 95% CI 0.34 to 0.60; p<0.001), but not bleeding (HR=1.13: 95% CI 0.39 to 3.26; p=0.820). After using MSMs to eliminate the effects of confounders, loss of follow-up and time dependency of treatment, aspirin was associated with reduced all-cause mortality (HR=0.60: 95% CI 0.47 to 0.76; p<0.001), independent of age (HR=1.06; p<0.001), presence of diabetes (HR=1.42; p<0.001), hypertension (HR=1.61; p<0.001) and alcohol abuse (HR=1.81; p<0.001). No association between aspirin and major bleeding was found (HR=1.14: 95% CI 0.48 to 2.73; p=0.765). Sensitivity analysis suggested these findings were unlikely to have been the result of unmeasured confounding. Conclusion Aspirin was associated with reduced all-cause mortality. Bleeding risk was less compared with survival benefits. Aspirin should be considered for primary prevention in Aboriginal people with high cardiovascular risk.
KW - acetylsalicylic acid
KW - coarsened exact matching
KW - marginal structural models
KW - propensity score matching
KW - risk-benefit assessment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077480292&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030034
DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030034
M3 - Article
C2 - 31900264
AN - SCOPUS:85077480292
VL - 10
SP - 1
EP - 9
JO - BMJ Open
JF - BMJ Open
SN - 2044-6055
IS - 1
M1 - e030034
ER -