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Newman finds daily aspirin does not lower Alzheimer’s risk

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NEW YORK TIMES - “If you’re 70 or older and healthy, without evidence of cardiovascular disease, it’s very difficult to improve on your success. The relatively low risk of dementia in this study was not further lowered with aspirin,” said Anne Newman, study co-author. Nor did they find an effect in various subgroups either—people with hypertension or diabetes, smokers, people with high cholesterol, or those who were overweight or obese. 

For the study, published in Neurology, researchers set up a controlled trial with 19,114 men and women older than 70 who were free of cardiovascular disease and dementia at the start. Half were randomly assigned to take a daily 100-milligram aspirin, while the other half took a placebo. After an average follow-up of almost five years with annual examinations, the researchers found no difference between the groups in diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment. They did find declining cognitive function over time, but the speed and degree of that decline were the same in both groups.

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3/27/2020
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