Aspirin prophylaxis and the prevalence of anaemia.
BACKGROUND
Anaemia and vascular disease are both common amongst the elderly and frequently co-exist. Whilst a consensus exists concerning the benefits of low-dose aspirin in reducing risk from atheromatous disease, nonetheless concerns arise in view of its harmful effect on gastric mucosa and its influence upon haemostasis, with the possibility of subsequent gastrointestinal bleeding. This study examined the relationship between chronic low-dose aspirin therapy and the presence of anaemia.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study of a representative cohort of 464 community-dwelling subjects aged 77 years.


METHODS
Subjects underwent comprehensive assessment of psychosocial, functional, medical and laboratory variables. In accordance with the World Health Organization criteria, anaemia was defined as less than 13 g/dl for men and 12 g/dl for women.


RESULTS
Chronic low-dose aspirin use was found amongst 29% of the 227 women and 38% of the 237 males (P = 0.026). Aspirin use was significantly associated with hypertension, ischaemic heart disease and diabetes mellitus. Anaemia was 42% less common among aspirin users, a statistically robust finding (OR 2.44, 95%CI 1.28-4.66) according to logistic regression analysis which included the confounding variables of gender, education, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, peptic diseases, antipeptic therapy and smoking. Similarly, no association was observed between aspirin use and reduced serum iron or iron saturation, reduced mean corpuscular haemoglobin or mean corpuscular volume.


CONCLUSIONS
Chronic low-dose aspirin use amongst an elderly cohort was associated with increased likelihood of normal haemoglobin.
Hammerman-Rozenberg
Robert
R
Department of Geriatrics and Rehabilitation, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel.
Jacobs
Jeremy M
JM
Azoulay
Daniel
D
Stessman
Jochanan
J
D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D001241:Aspirin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence
D006454:Hemoglobins; D001241:Aspirin