ASPREE-XT (eXTension) study receives $42.3 million to determine longer-term effects of aspirin on health
The ASPREE-XT (eXTension)* study was recently awarded $42.3 million in funding from the National Institute On Aging of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The five-year grant enables researchers to study if there are possible long-term health benefits of being on low-dose aspirin.
ASPREE-XT is led by the Berman Center for Outcomes and Clinical Research at the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (HHRI) in the United States and Monash University in Australia. Principal Investigators are Dr. Anne Murray (HHRI), Dr. Andrew Chan (Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University), and Dr. John McNeil (Monash University).
ASPREE-XT is an observational follow-up study to the recently completed ASPREE (ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly)** clinical trial. ASPREE, a joint United States/Australia study, found that low-dose aspirin has no benefit for healthy older people. Aspirin did not significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks or strokes, but the risk of serious bleeding among the aspirin takers increased compared to the placebo group. Findings from the ASPREE study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2018.
More than 19,000 healthy older individuals, most aged 70 years or older, participated in ASPREE.
ASPREE-XT is investigating whether those in the ASPREE aspirin group, compared to the placebo group, have different health outcomes for cancer, dementia, frailty and other conditions of aging over a longer period of time. In addition to the understanding the long-range effects of aspirin, ASPREE-XT aims to determine the impact that medical conditions, lifestyle, the environment and genetics have on an older person’s thinking, memory and physical function.
More information about ASPREE-XT may be found on the ASPREE study website.
* The ASPREE-XT study is supported by the National Institute On Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U19AG062682.
** The ASPREE study was partly supported by National Institutes of Health funding under Award Number U01AG029824.