Aspirin usage in a large teaching hospital diabetes clinic setting

Abstract

Aim: To document aspirin usage and the prevalence of large and small vessel complications in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) attending the outpatient diabetes clinics of a large public hospital. Methods: All patients attending diabetes outpatient clinics at The Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne, Australia were surveyed over a 3-month period. Results: Complete data were available on 629 of 632 (296 male) patients surveyed. Of the 29.3% of patients who were suffering from one or more macrovascular complication (ischaemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease or peripheral vascular disease), 63% were currently on aspirin treatment. Of those not on aspirin, 65% had no contra-indication..