Aspirin Use May Up Outcomes in Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28, 2020 (HealthDay News) — For hospitalized patients with COVID-19, aspirin use is associated with a reduced risk for mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and in-hospital mortality, according to a study published online Oct. 21 in Anesthesia & Analgesia.

In an effort to examine the association between aspirin use and outcomes, Jonathan H. Chow, M.D., from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a retrospective observational cohort study of adult patients with COVID-19 admitted to multiple U.S. hospitals between March and July 2020.

Data were included for 412 patients: 76.3 percent did not receive aspirin, while 23.7 percent received aspirin within 24 hours of admission or seven days prior to admission. The researchers observed a crude association for aspirin use with less mechanical ventilation (35.7 versus 48.4 percent) and ICU admission (38.8 versus 51.0 percent); no crude association was seen with in-hospital mortality (26.5 versus 23.2 percent). Aspirin use was independently associated with a reduced risk for mechanical ventilation, ICU admission, and in-hospital mortality after adjustment for eight confounding variables (adjusted hazard ratios, 0.56, 0.57, and 0.53, respectively). Major bleeding and overt thrombosis did not differ significantly for aspirin users and nonusers.

“This is a critical finding that needs to be confirmed through a randomized clinical trial,” Chow said in a statement. “If our finding is confirmed, it would make aspirin the first widely available, over-the-counter medication to reduce mortality in COVID-19 patients.”

One author disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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