[knivesreturns]

Whats the deal with asprin therapy in diabetes? Is it part of the diabetes or my blood chemistry?

[Kanga]

The American Diabetes Association has concluded that low-dose aspirin therapy may be helpful, not only in patients with diabetes who have had heart attacks, but also in patients with diabetes who are at high risk for future heart and artery disease. This includes both men and women with a family history of heart disease, or who smoke, have high blood pressure, or are obese, to name a few important risk factors.

Further info

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by Kanga

The American Diabetes Association has concluded that low-dose aspirin therapy may be helpful, not only in patients with diabetes who have had heart attacks, but also in patients with diabetes who are at high risk for future heart and artery disease. ...

The ADA is out of date on this one. A number of recent studies show that there is no benefit in taking aspirin for diabetics who have not already had a heart attack. The most recent one is the POPADAD study, which investigated the issue because of the unsubstantiated recomendations that are made by the likes of the ADA.

... We evaluated the effect of aspirin or antioxidant on cardiovascular events and mortality in a large cohort of people with diabetes mellitus with asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease. These two clinical criteria were selected for study as guidelines were being published, without evidential support, recommending aspirin use as primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes mellitus and with asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease. We found no evidence of benefit from either aspirin or antioxidant treatment on the composite hierarchical primary end points of cardiovascular events and cardiovascular mortality. ...
The prevention of progression of arterial disease and diabetes (POPADAD) trial: factorial randomised placebo controlled trial of aspirin and antioxidants in patients with diabetes and asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease -- Belch et al. 337: a184

Because, aspirin inhibits the clotting of blood, the time when it is needed most is during a heart attack. Taking it before a heart attack has no useful effect. Aspirin can prevent a heart attack from being fatal, but it won't stop it happening in the first place. I have never had heart attack, and my risk of having one is low. So I don't take aspirin. But I keep 2 aspirin in my tesing kit, just in case .

[Kanga]

You are right, I was coming back to edit it but you beat me to it by quoting me. I was talking to my husband about it and he said exactly what you said

[Caravaggio]

In addition, recent studies also show that people with diabetes who take aspirin regularly run the risk of suffering gastrointestinal bleeding.

[buddy7]

Hi-knivesreturns!
Done a thread on Aspiran some months ago, pleased have a read, thanks Buddy7



BBC NEWS | Health | Diabetes aspirin use questioned

[fgummett]

On the other hand I have read that - especially with poor BG control - we are in a state of chronic inflammation, so taking a small daily dose of ASA, Acetaminophen or whatever may help in that regard... to calm the fire so to speak.

Drugs often have more than one effect: consider Statins which have a bad rap for their potentially severe side-effects in some, added to the wealth of misleading information about Lipids and it seems like a good argument to avoid them altogether; and yet they have been shown in studies to reduce overall mortality.