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Antiplatelet therapy

Aspirin in the elderly — tailored approaches ahead?

The benefits of aspirin in protecting against thrombotic occlusions are well-established. However, aspirin use has also been linked to increased gastrointestinal and fatal bleeding in elderly patients. Safer preventive approaches should be considered in the elderly population, including reductions in aspirin dose, alternative daily regimens, and individualized treatment strategies.

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Figure 1: Platelet receptors and available pharmaceutical options.

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Correspondence to Victor Serebruany.

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Competing interests

V.S. is listed as an inventor for the issued US patent 'Treating vascular events with statins by inhibiting PAR-1 and PAR-4′ (7,842,716) and 'Method for treatment of platelet activity with E5555' (USN 61/080,791); assigned to Eisai. He received compensation for the issued U.S. patent 11/996,380 'Use of PAR-1/PAR-4 inhibitors for treating and preventing vascular diseases' on prasugrel assigned to Lilly. He received consultant and lecture fees from Aralez, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Daichii Sankyo, Lilly, Merck, and Sanofi. E.G. declares no competing interests.

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Serebruany, V., Golukhova, E. Aspirin in the elderly — tailored approaches ahead?. Nat Rev Cardiol 14, 571–572 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrcardio.2017.117

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