Reducing Cardiometabolic Risk: New Questions About an Ancient Therapy

Welcome to this supplement to Consultant devoted to the diagnosis, management, and prevention of cardiometabolic disorders, including hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and obesity. This special issue’s publication coincides with the Primary Care Cardiometabolic Risk Summit (CRS), powered by Consultant, October 14-16 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Cardiometabolic risk reduction is at the core of nearly every clinician’s practice, given the prevalence of these conditions among the US population. Nearly 10% of American adults have diabetes, nearly 30% have high blood pressure, and nearly 35% are obese, meaning that helping your patients manage their cardiometabolic health likely is one of the most common components of your daily practice.

Heart disease, of course, remains the leading cause of death among men and women in the United States despite all the medical advances of recent decades. But an ancient therapy—aspirin—is still one of the mainstay strategies of cardiometabolic risk reduction. Its clinical use, however, is still fraught with questions, despite that aspirin has been used since antiquity.

Jennifer L. Currin, PhD, ARNP, and Edward Shahady, MD, ABCL, address many of these questions in their article in this supplement. They offer commonsense, evidence-based answers about which of the numerous expert guidelines should be followed, how aspirin works, its indications and contraindications, and the dilemma of aspirin resistance—a particular problem for patients with diabetes, of whom more than 4 in 10 demonstrate a reduced response to aspirin therapy. 

In light of the recent approvals of new extended-release aspirin formulations, Drs Currin and Shahady also answer questions about which of the different preparations of aspirin is best for a given patient.

“As clinicians, we are being asked to rethink an age-old therapy, now that new aspirin formulations are available and more is known about the underlying pathology of aspirin resistance. Until now, these factors were rarely taken into consideration when prescribing aspirin,” they write. Read their excellent article to help guide your approach to recommending or prescribing aspirin for cardiovascular risk reduction for your own patients.

This supplement to Consultant offers much more, including articles on dyslipidemia, diabetes, cardiomyopathy, and stroke. For further coverage of these conditions from Consultant, visit the Cardiometabolic Risk Medical Resource Center at Consultant360.com. And for more information about CRS, point your browser to www.primarycarecardiometabolic.com.

Thanks for reading.

Michael Gerchufsky, ELS, CMPP
Managing Editor, Consultant