Introduction
Aspirin, used in vascular disease prophylaxis, is probably the most cost-effective drug available in clinical practice and daily low-dose aspirin is now a standard item in the long-term management of vascular disease. Within a public health context, the provision of aspirin to individuals at increased vascular risk has been judged to be the preventive activity of greatest benefit and at the lowest cost (by far), apart from smoking cessation.1 Patients with known vascular disease are clearly at increased vascular risk, and a recent US Task Force judged that ‘individuals at increased risk’ includes males aged over about 45 and
