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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2002;287:2067.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

The percentage of patients with heart disease who report taking aspirin regularly increased from 59% to 81% between 1995 and 1999, the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) said in the March 15 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology. Patients with heart conditions who didn't take aspirin had nearly twice the risk of dying as those who took the drug regularly.

Also, the study's results showed clear characteristics that were predictors of aspirin use. Younger men, nonsmokers, and those who had had prior myocardial infarctions or undergone revascularization procedures were more likely to take the drug. Those unlikely to do so were patients with heart failure, diabetes, or hypertension.

The data were compiled by researchers from Duke University Medical Center (an AHRQ-supported Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics). The researchers surveyed more than 25 000 patients enrolled in the Duke Databank for Cardiovascular Disease. They . . . [Full Text of this Article]