Aspirin dose and six-month outcome after an acute coronary syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to compare the efficacy of low and intermediate aspirin doses in acute coronary syndromes. BACKGROUND: Little is known of the comparative efficacy of low and intermediate aspirin doses in this setting. METHODS: We compared six-month death, myocardial infarction (MI), and stroke in patients with unstable angina or acute MI discharged while receiving low (<150 mg) or intermediate (> or =150 mg) aspirin therapy in the GUSTO IIb and PURSUIT trials (n = 20,521). We used multivariable analysis and performed a propensity analysis in order to adjust for baseline imbalances between the groups. RESULTS: Aspirin doses <150 mg were prescribed to 29.9% (6,128) of patients. By six months, 6.4% of the patients (1,310 of 20,521) had a primary event, 6.2% of the patients receiving <150 mg and 6.6% of the patients receiving aspirin doses > or =150 mg (hazard ratio [HR] 1.06 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.94 to 1.19], p = 0.35). After adjusting for baseline imbalances and the propensity score for discharge aspirin dose, there was no effect of aspirin dose on the composite end point at six months (HR 0.92 [95% CI 0.79 to 1.07], p = 0.28). However, the higher aspirin dose was associated with a reduction in six-month MI (HR 0.79 [95% CI 0.64 to 0.98], p = 0.03). The outcome was similar when patients were matched on the basis of the propensity score for aspirin dose (HR for death/MI/stroke 0.94 [95% CI 0.80 to 1.12], p = 0.51), although stroke occurred significantly more frequently among patients receiving the higher aspirin dose (HR 1.74 [95% CI 1.01 to 3.02] p = 0.05) and the effect on MI was no longer apparent. CONCLUSIONS: Although these data are non-randomized, they suggest that the aspirin dose upon discharge may influence the clinical course after unstable angina or acute MI.