Antiplatelet treatment in elderly people with transient ischaemic attacks or ischaemic strokes

Strokes and transient ischaemic attacks become more common with advancing age, and their prognosis becomes worse. Because of the increase in the number of elderly subjects in most Western societies, atherothrombotic cerebrovascular disease is a significant health problem. It is important, therefore, to find effective treatments for both primary and secondary prevention. The Antiplatelet Trialists' Collaboration found that the reduction in vascular events as an end point in patients with a previous stroke or transient ischaemic attack was 22%.1 Antiplatelet drugs were equally effective in patients older and younger than 65 years, a result that was also seen in the European stroke prevention study.2 No study has, however, investigated the protective effect of antiplatelet drugs in patients older than 70 or 80. We analysed a subgroup of the 1306 Finnish patients participating in the European …