Aspirin use among adults with diabetes

Objectives: Aspirin has been shown to be an effective and relatively safe regimen to prevent cardiovascular disease. This study investigated associated factors and the prevalence of aspirin use among patients with diabetes in eastern Taiwan. Materials and Methods: Data on all ambulatory patients from eastern Taiwan in 2001 were obtained from the Bureau of National Health Insurance. Among these, 16,356 patients with diabetes aged over 30 years were randomly selected. Patients were categorized into aspirin users and non-users based on whether they had received an aspirin prescription for diabetes. Results: Of all patients, the prescription rate of aspirin was 12.4%. For those aged 70 years and over, the rate of aspirin prescription was 17.3%, which was the highest, while the rate was only 5.7 % for those aged under 50 years. Only 9.6 % of aboriginals had an aspirin prescription compared with 13.1 % of non-aboriginals. For patients with stroke or coronary heart disease, the rates of aspirin prescription were 49.6 % and 49.2%, respectively. Only 27.5 % of patients with peripheral vascular disease had an aspirin prescription. The most significant factor in the multivariate analysis associated with aspirin use was patients with coronary heart disease, followed by patients with stroke. However, peripheral vascular disease was not a significant factor. As to medical facilities, patients visiting primary care clinics were less likely to be prescribed aspirin. In addition, the more elderly patients were, the more likely they were to have an aspirin prescription. Conclusions: Aspirin use in diabetic patients is inadequate in eastern Taiwan, and this was worse for those with peripheral vascular disease, for young diabetics, and in those patients without CVD or those being treated at primary care clinics. Further strategic programs ar