US taskforce advises against low dose aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease

The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) will no longer recommend routine prescribing of low dose aspirin for preventing a first heart attack or stroke, or for the prevention of colorectal cancer, according to new draft guidelines.1 The move has been widely reported in the media as a big shift in advice, however both the US Food and Drug Administration (in 2014)2 and the 2019 joint guidelines from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) have already published this advice.3 As such, The BMJ understands that many US doctors already do not recommend aspirin routinely for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. UK …