Anna Remková
Antiplatelet therapy by acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) provided pivotal advances in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Aspirin is clearly beneficial among patients at high-risk for cardiovascular events - with a prior myocardial infarction, stroke or some other evidence of occlusive arterial disease. Antiplatelet therapy is effective also in diabetic patients with a history of atherothrombotic arterial diseases. In the absence of such a history diabetes mellitus appears to be associated only with an „intermediate“ risk of a serious vascular event. In this specific condition, trial evidence supporting aspirin use is currently deficient and the effects of antiplatelet therapy among these lower-risk diabetic patients are unclear. The prevalence of diabetes is predicted to increase substantially in the coming decades. Thus, evidence-based guidelines arising from further investigations and trials are to be a key priority.