Aspirin for primary cardiovascular disease prevention: what we know and what we don't know.

The authors reflect on the issues involving the use of aspirin for the prevention of primary cardiovascular diseases, like myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiovascular death. Also cited are the major studies on the effects of aspirin in the late 1970s and early 1980s, namely, the British Doctors Study and the Physicians Health Study in the U.S., respectively, and the possible adverse effects like gastrointestinal bleeding and intracranial bleeding.