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Aims: Low-dose (LD) direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in adjunct to antiplatelet therapy, known as dual-pathway inhibition (DPI), have been tested to prevent ischaemic events in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the overall safety and efficacy of LD DOACs vs placebo on a background of antiplatelet therapy., Methods and Results: All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing LD DOAC (defined as a dosage below the lowest approved for stroke prevention) vs placebo among patients with CVD receiving single or dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in at least 50% of the population and followed for at least 6 months, were included. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to overcome different follow-up durations across trials. The primary efficacy endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and the primary safety endpoint major bleeding. A pre-specified subgroup analysis was performed for different DOAC-dose regimens. A total of 49 802 patients from 7 RCTs were included. Low-dose DOACs vs placebo were associated with significant reductions in MACE (IRR 0.85, 95% CI 0.78-0.91, number needed to treat, NNT, 86) and myocardial infarction (IRR 0.86, 95% CI 0.78-0.95, NNT 355) and significant increases of major (IRR 2.05, 95% CI 1.50-2.80, number needed to harm, NNH, 89) or all bleeding (IRR 1.82, 95% CI 1.49-2.22, NNH 23). Cardiovascular death (IRR 0.90, 95% CI 0.79-1.03, NNT 784), intracranial (IRR 1.18, 95% CI 0.71-1.96, NNH 1810), and fatal bleeding (IRR 1.13, 95% CI 0.76-1.69, NNH 3170) did not differ significantly between strategies. Non-significant reductions of all-cause death (IRR 0.90, 95% CI 0.80-1.01, NNT 821) and stroke (IRR 0.73, 95% CI 0.53-1.01, NNT 315) favoured LD DOACs. Meta-regression analyses showed a significant interaction between percentage of DAPT use and increased risk of major bleeding (P = 0.04), intracranial haemorrhage (P = 0.035), and stroke (P = 0.0003). Subgroup analysis of very LD DOAC, defined as ≤1/3 of the lowest approved dose for stroke prevention (i.e. rivaroxaban 2.5 mg twice daily) seemed to mitigate the risk of bleeding without any trade-off in efficacy compared to other LD DOAC regimens., Conclusions: In patients with CVD, LD DOAC vs placebo on a background of antiplatelet therapy, reduced ischaemic events at the expense of increased major and all bleeding, but without significantly increasing intracranial or fatal bleeds, while the reduction of cardiovascular or total mortality and stroke was not statistically significant. A DPI with very LD DOAC (i.e. rivaroxaban 2.5 mg twice daily) appeared particularly advantageous, especially when combined with a single antiplatelet agent and used among patients at high ischaemic and low bleeding risk., Study Registration: This study is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021232744)., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2021. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

During ageing, the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and of cardiovascular disease CVD) increases. Our aim is to investigate the relationship between AD and CVD and its risk factors, with a view to explaining the underlying mechanisms of this association. This review is based on the material obtained via MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase and Clinical Trials databases, from January 1980 until May 2019. The search term used was "Alzheimer's disease", combined with "cardiovascular disease", "hypertension", "dyslipidaemia", "diabetes mellitus", "atrial fibrillation", "coronary artery disease", "heart valve disease", "heart failure". Out of the 1328 papers initially retrieved, 431 duplicates and 216 records in languages other than English were removed; thus, only 98 papers were included in our research material. We have found that AD and CVD are frequently associated, while both of them, alone may be considered deleterious to health, the study of their combination constitutes a clinical challenge. Further research will help to clarify the real impact of CVD and its risk factors on AD, in order to better comprehend the effects of subclinical and clinical cardiovascular diseases on the brain. It may be hypothesized that there are various mechanisms underlying the association between AD and CVD, the main ones being: hypoperfusion and emboli, atherosclerosis, furthermore in both the heart and brain of AD patients, amyloid deposits may be present, thus causing damage to these organs. We need to clarify the real impact of these underlying hypothesized mechanisms and to investigate gender issues., (© 2021 Stichting European Society for Clinical Investigation Journal Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)