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A daily low dose of aspirin can offer important protection against cardiovascular disease, but University of Florida researchers say that the people who could receive the most benefit from the medication may not be taking it.

A UF study found that only 40 percent of people who were at high risk of cardiovascular disease said they received a doctor recommendation for aspirin therapy, while one-quarter of people at low risk reported their doctors told them to take the drug.

The results appear today (July 14) in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine, recommends aspirin use to prevent heart attack and stroke in men age 45 to 79 and women age 55 to 79 when the benefit outweighs the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, a possible side effect of regular aspirin use.

鈥淐ardiovascular disease is a significant problem in the United States and the appropriate use of prevention strategies is particularly important,鈥� said , Ph.D., the study鈥檚 lead investigator and chairman of the at . 鈥淎spirin has been advocated as a prevention strategy but only for certain patients. There are health risks associated with the treatment. It is important that doctors are directing the right patients to get aspirin for cardiovascular disease prevention.鈥�

Other studies have examined whether people at risk of heart attack or stroke were taking aspirin, but the UF study is the first to explore whether a person had received a doctor鈥檚 recommendation for aspirin.

For the study, UF researchers analyzed data from the National 网红黑料 and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2012, a large, nationally representative survey that combines survey questions with laboratory testing. About 3,500 participants over age 40 were asked if their doctor had recommended they take low-dose aspirin for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, stroke or cancer. If they had received the recommendation, participants were also asked if they were following their doctor鈥檚 advice.

The UF team compared individuals鈥� survey responses to their Framingham Risk Score, a risk assessment tool for determining a person鈥檚 10-year risk of having a heart attack. The tool calculates a score based on a person鈥檚 age, gender, total and HDL cholesterol, smoking status and blood pressure. Researchers classified people who had a 10-year risk score of more than 10 percent as high risk, while patients with less than a 10 percent risk were classified as low risk.

鈥淭he results indicated that more than half of the patients who should have been recommended to take aspirin did not report being told by their health care provider to take aspirin,鈥� said Mainous, the Florida Blue endowed chair of health administration. 鈥淔urther, a substantial proportion of those not at increased risk for cardiovascular disease were recommended to take aspirin.

鈥淭he vast majority of patients who reported being told to take aspirin were complying with their doctor鈥檚 advice. The issue that was concerning to us wasn鈥檛 adherence to treatment, but whether the right patients were being given advice on aspirin treatment appropriate for them.鈥�

Future research should evaluate whether making Framingham Risk Score computations available through electronic medical records would aid doctors in making accurate decisions about who should take low-dose aspirin, Mainous said.