FHI's Week in Review

Volume V, Issue 35

Aug. 27, 2018

Daily Aspirin Fails to Lower CV Risk in Long-term, Primary Prevention

Somewhat surprising news broke over the weekend. Here's an excerpt from Medscape:

Aspirin at a daily dose of 100 mg was not seen to reduce the long-term risk for cardiovascular (CV) or cerebrovascular events in a trial that randomly assigned more than 12,000 nondiabetic adults with multiple CV risk factors but no history of CV events. Nor was the risk for stroke reduced.

WIM

"There's been a lot of uncertainty among doctors around the world about prescribing aspirin" beyond those for whom it's now recommended, said one study leader, Dr. Jane Armitage of the University of Oxford in England. "If you're healthy, it's probably not worth taking it."

Medscape

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AP via Fox Business

There are 14 members of Congress who are doctors. Here's why they left the exam room for Capitol Hill

Joanne Finnegan showcased the 14 physician members of Congress for Fierce Healthcare on 8/23/18.

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This is a great story and should be read by all healthcare professionals. One cannot help but wonder how much better our nation's healthcare policy would be if we had more physicians serving as legislators in Washington, D.C.

Global Alcohol Study Reveals No Safe Level of Consumption

Late last week several media outlets simultaneously brought bad news to consumers of alcoholic beverages. According to a CNN report:

There's no amount of liquor, wine or beer that is safe for your overall health, according to a new analysis of 2016 global alcohol consumption and disease risk.

Alcohol was the leading risk factor for disease and premature death in men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 worldwide in 2016, accounting for nearly one in 10 deaths, according to the study , published Thursday < 8.23.18> in the journal The Lancet...The Lancet study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, used data from the 2016 Global Burden of Disease report, which captured information on premature death and disability from over 300 diseases by sex and age in 195 countries or territories between 1990 and 2016.

WIM

Before readers toss out the 12 year old scotch or that vintage bottle of Bordeaux, it's important to share the other side of the argument:

"Given the pleasure presumably associated with moderate drinking, claiming there is no 'safe' level does not seem an argument for abstention," according to David Spiegelhalter, the Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge. "There is no safe level of driving, but governments do not recommend that people avoid driving," Spiegelhalter, who was not involved in the research, said. "Come to think of it, there is no safe level of living, but nobody would recommend abstention."