Older adults who take low-dose aspirin every day may have a lower risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.
Research to be presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes annual meeting in October shows a link between adults over the age of 65 who take 100 milligrams of aspirin daily and a 15% lower risk for getting type 2 diabetes.
Sophia Zoungas, MD, an endocrinologist from Monash University in Australia, said the results show that researchers should do more studies on anti-inflammatory agents like aspirin as a possible agent to prevent diabetes.
The scientists followed up on the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly, or ASPREE, trial that was published in 2018. That study tied aspirin to a 38% higher risk for bleeding (mostly in the gastrointestinal tract) in older adults but didn’t lower cardiovascular disease.
The 16,209 people in the newest study were 65 and up, didn’t have cardiovascular disease or physical disability or dementia. They either took aspirin or a placebo daily. None of the people had diabetes at the start of the study. Over a median of 4.7 years, researchers followed up on them. Of the people, 995 people got diabetes; 459 of people who took aspirin, and 536 who didn’t take aspirin. People who took aspirin had a 15% reduction in incident diabetes.
“Aspirin treatment reduced incident diabetes and slowed the increase in fasting plasma glucose over time among initially healthy older adults. Given the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes among older adults, the potential for anti-inflammatory agents like aspirin to prevent type 2 diabetes or improve glucose levels needs further study,” the authors said.
“Major prescribing guidelines now recommend older adults take daily aspirin only when there is a medical reason to do so, such as after a heart attack,” Zoungas said. “Although these new findings are of interest, they do not change the clinical advice about aspirin use in older people at this time.”
