A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials on Antiplatelet Agents Versus Placebo/Control for Treating Peripheral Artery Disease

Abstract: Effect of aspirin (antiplatelet agents) in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) was still controversial. Varying studies reported varying results. Therefore, we did this meta-analysis to investigate if aspirin could reduce cardiovascular events in patients with PAD. A comprehensive literature search (PubMed, CCTR, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM-disc, and relevant websites) was conducted from 1990 to September 2014. The key search terms (“aspirin,” “PAD,” “peripheral arterial occlusive diseases,” and “claudication”) produced 9 high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of aspirin versus placebo/control. Mantel–Haenszel random-effects model was used to analysis of the 9 RCTs. The primary outcome was the cardiovascular events. Nine RCTs, composed of 9526 patients (4786 aspirin-treated and 4740 placebo or control-treated patients), were meta-analyzed. The results indicated that compared to placebo/control, aspirin could not significantly reduce the cardiovascular events (OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.56–1.15). Moreover, aspirin could not produce better effect on prevention of nonfatal myocardial infarction (OR = 0.98, 95% CI = 0.52–1.84), nonfatal stroke (OR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.69–1.14), cardiovascular death (OR = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.68–1.38), any death (OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.85–1.30), and major bleeding (OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 0.82–1.65) than placebo/control. But aspirin, as monotherapy th...
Source: Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Tags: Research Article: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Source Type: research