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(Circulation. 2002;105:557.)
© 2002 American Heart Association, Inc.
Clinical Investigation and Reports |
From the Department of Veterans Affairs Cooperative Studies Program Coordinating Center (P.P.), West Haven, Conn; the Medicine Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Boston Health Care System (L.D.F., M.T.B.), Boston, Mass; the Medical Service, Department of Veterans Affairs New England Health Care System (M.D.E.), New Haven, Conn; the Medical Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (D.L.), Washington DC; and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (J.S.), Albany, NY.
Correspondence to Louis Fiore, MD, MPH, MAVERIC (151 MAV), VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 S Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02130 (e-mail louis.fiore{at}med.va.gov), and reprint requests to Dr Michael D. Ezekowitz, Department of Veterans Affairs Cooperative Studies Program Coordinating Center (151A), VA Connecticut Health Care System, 950 Campbell Ave, West Haven, CT 06516. E-mail michael.ezekowitz@drexel.edu
Background Both aspirin and warfarin when used alone are effective in the secondary prevention of vascular events and death after acute myocardial infarction. We tested the hypothesis that aspirin and warfarin therapy, when combined, would be more effective than aspirin monotherapy.
Methods and Results We conducted a randomized open-label study to compare the efficacy of warfarin (target international normalized ratio 1.5 to 2.5 IU) plus aspirin (81 mg daily) with the efficacy of aspirin monotherapy (162 mg daily) in reducing the total mortality in 5059 patients enrolled within 14 days of infarction and followed for a median of 2.7 years. Secondary end points included recurrent myocardial infarction, stroke, and major hemorrhage. Four hundred thirty-eight (17.3%) of 2537 patients assigned to the aspirin group and 444 (17.6%) of 2522 patients assigned to the combination group died (log-rank P=0.76). Recurrent myocardial infarction occurred in 333 patients (13.1%) taking aspirin and in 336 patients (13.3%) taking combination therapy (log-rank P=0.78). Stroke occurred in 89 patients (3.5%) taking aspirin and in 79 patients (3.1%) taking combination therapy (log-rank P=0.52). Major bleeding occurred more frequently in the combination therapy group than in the aspirin group (1.28 versus 0.72 events per 100 person years of follow-up, respectively; P<0.001). There were 14 individuals with intracranial bleeds in both the aspirin and combination therapy groups.
Conclusions In postmyocardial infarction patients, warfarin therapy (at a mean international normalized ratio of 1.8) combined with low-dose aspirin did not provide a clinical benefit beyond that achievable with aspirin monotherapy.
Key Words: myocardial infarction aspirin anticoagulants trials
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