The available evidence demonstrates that the use of clopidogrel plus aspirin in people at high risk of cardiovascular disease and people with established cardiovascular disease without a coronary stent is associated with a reduction in the risk of myocardial infa rct ion and ischaemic stroke , and an increased risk of major and minor bleeding compared with aspirin alone .
According to GRADE criteria , the quality of evidence was moderate for all outcomes except all-cause mortality ( low quality evidence ) and adverse events ( very low quality evidence )
BACKGROUND Aspirin is the prophylactic antiplatelet drug of choice for people with cardiovascular disease .
Adding a second antiplatelet drug to aspirin may produce additional benefit for people at high risk and people with established cardiovascular disease .
This is an up date to a previously published review from 2011 .
OBJECTIVES To review the benefit and harm of adding clopidogrel to aspirin therapy for preventing cardiovascular events in people who have coronary disease , ischaemic cerebrovascular disease , peripheral arterial disease , or were at high risk of atherothrombotic disease , but did not have a coronary stent .
Effects of clopidogrel in addition to aspirin in patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation.
BACKGROUND Despite current treatments , patients who have acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation have high rates of major vascular events . We evaluated the efficacy and safety of the antiplatelet agent clopidogrel when given with aspirin in such patients . METHODS We r and omly assigned 12,562 patients who had presented within 24 hours after the onset of symptoms to receive clopidogrel ( 300 mg immediately , followed by 75 mg once daily ) ( 6259 patients ) or placebo ( 6303 patients ) in addition  to aspirin for 3 to 12 months . RESULTS The first primary outcome --a composite of death from cardiovascular causes , nonfatal myocardial infa rct ion , or stroke -- occurred in 9.3 percent of the patients in the clopidogrel group and 11.4 percent of the patients in the placebo group ( relative risk with clopidogrel as compared with placebo , 0.80 ; 95 percent confidence interval , 0.72 to 0.90 ; P<0.001 ) . The second primary outcome --the first primary outcome or refractory ischemia -- occurred in 16.5 percent of the patients in the clopidogrel group and 18.8 percent of the patients in the placebo group ( relative risk , 0.86 ; 95 percent confidence interval , 0.79 to 0.94 ; P<0.001 ) . The percentages of patients with in-hospital refractory or severe ischemia , heart failure , and revascularization procedures were also significantly lower with clopidogrel . There were significantly more patients with major bleeding in the clopidogrel group than in the placebo group ( 3.7 percent vs. 2.7 percent ; relative risk , 1.38 ; P=0.001 ) , but there were not significantly more patients with episodes of life-threatening bleeding ( 2.2 percent [ corrected ] vs. 1.8 percent ; P=0.13 ) or hemorrhagic strokes ( 0.1 percent vs. 0.1 percent ) . CONCLUSIONS The antiplatelet agent clopidogrel has beneficial effects in patients with acute coronary syndromes without ST-segment elevation . However , the risk of major bleeding is increased among patients treated with clopidogrel
The available evidence demonstrates that the use of clopidogrel plus aspirin in people at high risk of cardiovascular disease and people with established cardiovascular disease without a coronary stent is associated with a reduction in the risk of myocardial infa rct ion and ischaemic stroke , and an increased risk of major and minor bleeding compared with aspirin alone .
According to GRADE criteria , the quality of evidence was moderate for all outcomes except all-cause mortality ( low quality evidence ) and adverse events ( very low quality evidence )
BACKGROUND Aspirin is the prophylactic antiplatelet drug of choice for people with cardiovascular disease .
Adding a second antiplatelet drug to aspirin may produce additional benefit for people at high risk and people with established cardiovascular disease .
This is an up date to a previously published review from 2011 .
OBJECTIVES To review the benefit and harm of adding clopidogrel to aspirin therapy for preventing cardiovascular events in people who have coronary disease , ischaemic cerebrovascular disease , peripheral arterial disease , or were at high risk of atherothrombotic disease , but did not have a coronary stent .