Aspirin did not slow healthspan loss in older trial participants
Healthspan loss rates were 82.1 versus 82.7 events per 1,000 person-years with aspirin and placebo, respectively, over a median 4.7-year follow-up.
Double-blind, placebo-controlled
Limit: The healthspan definition did not include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
A randomized trial studied 19,114 relatively healthy older adults in Australia and the US, aged 70 or older, or 65 or older for US minority ethnic groups. The double-blind trial assigned them to 100 mg of aspirin daily or placebo and followed them for a median of 4.7 years.
Healthspan loss meant the first occurrence of heart or blood vessel disease, diabetes, dementia, cancer or death. Overall, 5,835 participants (30.5%) met that definition. Researchers found no evidence of a substantial difference between aspirin and placebo. Excluding the 2,045 participants who already had diabetes at enrollment gave a similar result.
Why it matters
Inflammation contributes to several chronic diseases and the loss of healthy years, raising the question of whether one intervention can help older people remain free of multiple age-related illnesses.
Caveats
The combined outcome covered selected diseases and death, and the trial excluded people with heart or blood vessel disease, dementia or physical disability. The supplied abstract and excerpts do not report adverse-event results.
From the paper
- Participants
This trial recruited 19 114 relatively healthy, community-dwelling older individuals from Australia and the United States (US) between March 2010 and December 2014.
- Ages
Eligible individuals, aged at least 70 years (or 65 years for US minorities), were randomly assigned to 100 mg enteric-coated aspirin daily or placebo.
- Duration
The median follow-up time was 4.7 years.
- Result
… or risk of loss of healthspan between the aspirin group and the placebo group [hazard ratio (HR): 0.98, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.92–1.05].
- Limitation
Loss of healthspan was not a main outcome of the ASPREE trial and we did not include COPD, which was part of previously used definitions.
- Loss of healthspan
There was no significant difference in the number of events (2896 in the aspirin group with a rate of 82.1 events per 1000 person-years and 2939 in the placebo group with a rate of 82.7 events per 1000 person-years) or risk of loss of healthspan between the aspirin group and the placebo group [hazard ratio (HR): 0.98, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.92–1.05 …
Quoted word for word from the full text on PubMed Central.
Aspirin is part of David Sinclair's daily regimen in Lifespan
The paper
Monash University
Age and Ageing, Jul 2, 2026, Open access
