Can aspirin and fish oil supplements protect people with diabetes from heart disease?

ASCEND: A Study of Cardiovascular Events in Diabetes (renewal: years 11-14)

People with diabetes are at a higher risk of having a heart attack or stroke. ASCEND is a clinical trial which started in 2004. The study aimed to find out whether a daily aspirin tablet and/or a fish oil capsule could help to prevent people with diabetes having a heart attack or stroke. In the long term, taking aspirin can cause unwanted bleeding. This study will also find out if the potential benefits of taking aspirin outweigh the risk of bleeding. This study will therefore tell us if people with diabetes should be advised to take regular aspirin or fish oils. The study is the largest trial of its kind - 15,480 people with diabetes from around the UK are taking part and have already been taking either active or dummy aspirin tablets and active or dummy fish oil capsules for four years. Professor Jane Armitage and the team at the University of Oxford have now received a grant from the BHF which will enable them to continue the study for another three years, to see it through to completion. The study will end in 2018, when they hope to reveal a clear answer. This study may reveal a simple way to help people with diabetes live longer healthier lives – if these treatments are used widely to prevent more serious conditions in people with diabetes, they could prevent many thousands of heart attacks and strokes.