Pooled results of two small trials with few events show a non-significant trend towards increased risk of intracerebral haemorrhage in people with Alzheimer's disease
- Nurse Practitioner Programs, School of Nursing, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA
- Correspondence to: Barbara E Harrison
464 O’Dowd Hall, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan 48309, USA; harriso3{at}oakland.edu
Alzheimer's disease and aspirin use
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative brain disease that leads to dementia. It is often accompanied by small vessel disease because of arteriosclerosis.1 AD and atherothrombosis share some common pathogenetic mechanisms which include chronic inflammation.2 Although the exact mechanism underlying this effect is still unknown, some have suggested aspirin use for patients with AD because of its anti-inflammatory properties.3 Thus aspirin use in AD has been considered by some researchers as a potential therapy for delaying the progression of AD through slowing of the neuroinflammatory response.4
Study
Thoonsen and colleagues did a systematic review of PubMed and the Cochrane Library in October 2009 for studies that investigated the effect of aspirin use in …
