The present status of aspirin use for primary prevention among hypertensive outpatients in China

To evaluate the current status of aspirin for primary prevention in hypertensive outpatients in China, and the gap between aspirin use and guidelines.This was a multi-center cross-sectional study and carried out in hypertensive patients from 46 hospitals of twenty two cities in China from June to December in 2009. At least 100 essential hypertensive outpatients were consecutively recruited from each participant hospitals according to the consistent inclusion criteria. The patients underwent physical examinations and biochemical analyses, and answered questionnaires. Based on the relevant guidelines, the risk assessment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a prerequisite for the proper use of aspirin in primary prevention.A total of 5 206 hypertensive outpatients were included. Among them, 1 324 (25.4%) were with a history of CVD. Among those with no history of CVD, 2 705 patients (69.7%) were at high risk of CVD, and the aspirin utilization rate for primary prevention was 29.2%, with 32.2% patients at high risk and 22.4% patients at low-medium risk of CVD, respectively. In the application of aspirin for CVD primary prevention, the inappropriate aspirin use rate in patients at low-medium risk was 23.3%.The proportion of subjects at high risk for CVD is high in hypertensive outpatients suggesting a wide range of application space for aspirin.There exists underutilization for high risk and overutilization for low-medium risk patients in current aspirin primary prevention application.