Use of aspirin for primary prevention in patients with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Excerpt

We read with interest the recently published cohort study by Tan and colleagues [1] which examined the appropriateness of aspirin prescribing among 400 patients with type 2 diabetes attending the  Irish ambulatory clinics. It was reported that 49.0% (n = 196) of the cohort were prescribed aspirin, of whom 10.2% (n = 20) were receiving it for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease despite with < 10% of 10-year cardiovascular risk. The authors specifically discouraged aspirin prescription in patients with type 2 diabetes who have < 10% of 10-year cardiovascular risk. Indeed, the recommendation of the authors coincided with the recommendation in the 2019 European Society of Cardiology (ESC)'s guidelines on diabetes, pre-diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, which also discouraged the prescription of aspirin in patients with diabetes at low-to-moderate cardiovascular risk [2]. …