Via practica 5/2017

Diabetes mellitus and antiplatelet therapy: Part I Antiplatelet therapy with aspirin in diabetics: primary and secondary prevention

Primary and secondary prevention of atherothrombosis, which is a key mechanism of non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), ischemic stroke and death, requires inter alia essential treatment with drugs that attack the formation of thrombus in the cardiovascular system. There is a general scientific consensus in evidence based medicine, if a patient with diabetes mellitus has overcome a cardiovascular event or has a cardiovascular disease, he should use aspirin (unless there are absolute contraindications). The use of aspirin in primary prevention of cardiovascular events remains a difficult and controversial issue. In the publication, based on literary data and professional medical societies recommendations, we present current information of aspirin use in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients for daily medical practice.

Keywords: diabetes, antiplatelet therapy, acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin, primary and secundary prevention, cardiovascular events