Published 19 November 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2583
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2583

Letters

POPADAD trial

Time for a proper study of aspirin after a vascular event?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Belch et al add to the documentation that long term aspirin has little or no benefit in patients who have or are at risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.^{1 2}

Few long term trials of aspirin have shown a reduction in mortality or major morbidity. However, editors of journals persist in publishing papers on aspirin with conclusions designed to mislead health professionals and the public.

The New England Journal of Medicine must take first place in this rogue’s gallery with publication of the US physician’s study (stopped for futility but published as a positive trial after retrospective rearrangement of the primary end point).³ Then comes the Lancet with the HOT study, which recommended aspirin despite the study being neutral on its primary end point and retrospectively redefining the criteria for myocardial infarction.⁴ And again with the PEP study, which showed a significant excess of fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction when aspirin was . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Castle Hill Hospital, University of Hull, Kingston upon Hull HU16 5JQ

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