27th February 2007
Beefy,
The big aspirin study was called THE PHYSICIAN'S HEALTH STUDY and it was started a quarter century ago:
This was its first phase:
[QUOTE]The 33,223 willing and eligible physicians were enrolled in a run-in phase during which all received active aspirin and placebo beta-carotene. After 18 weeks, participants were sent a questionnaire asking about their health status, side effects, compliance, and willingness to continue in the trial. A total of 11,152 changed their minds, reported a reason for exclusion, or did not reliably take the study pills. The remaining 22,071 physicians were then randomly assigned to receive active aspirin and active beta-carotene (n=5,517), active aspirin and beta-carotene placebo (n=5,520), aspirin placebo and active beta-carotene (n=5,519), or aspirin placebo and beta-carotene placebo (n=5,515). A total of 11,037 physicians were randomized to aspirin and 11,034 to aspirin placebo; a total of 11,034 physicians were randomized to beta-carotene and 11,037 to beta-carotene placebo.
Active aspirin consisted of one 325 mg tablet (as Bufferin, supplied by Bristol-Myers Products) taken every other day<>. Active beta-carotene consisted of one 50 mg capsule (as Lurotin, supplied by BASF AG) taken every other day. The pills were supplied in foil-backed calendar packs.
They are doing a second huge decade-long study now study now (though not on aspirin) to be completed this year.
[QUOTE]Physicians were invited to join PHS-II in two phases. In the first phase, beginning in July 1997, physicians who had participated in PHS-I were sent a letter explaining the background and rationale for PHS-II along with an informed consent form and a questionnaire asking about the occurrence of relevant medical conditions and the use of various vitamin supplements over the preceding year. To take part in PHS-II, men who were taking individual supplements containing more than 100% of the RDA of vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene, or a multivitamin had to forego the use of such supplements for the course of the trial. A total of 7,641 of the participants of PHS-I signed on for another hitch.
In phase two, invitation packets were mailed to 254,597 U.S. male physicians aged 50 years and older who were registered with the American Medical Association and who had not taken part in PHS-I. Of these, 16,743 said they were willing to participate in PHS-II and 11,128 were eligible for the trial.
Gosh beefsteak,
I have never seen a reference to that gout-niacin connection. I guess I blinded myself to it if I saw it. I am currently doing a 60 day trial WITHOUT allopurinol (to judge it's efffect on an annoying couple rashes I have) and thus I have eliminated my BP meds for the last month because I KNOW how dangerous diuretics can be in connection with gout. BUT I have been continuing to take my niacin...AND I am beginning to suspect all is not well with my right bunion joint first thing in the morning. I have even popped a couple colchicine from time to time. This isn't an excuciatingly acute pain, but seems like a chronic annoyance of an old uric acid tophus.
If you have a good non-commercial link between uric acid and niacin, let me know.
As an aside, ANOTHER reason for my use of rather generous use of aspirin that applies directly to the two of us: aspirin's action is unique: in HIGH doses it is uricosuric (good) but in LOW doses it causes the retention of uric acid...VERY BAD for gout sufferers.
(ARB's are slightly uricosuric, so that's GOOD!;) )
My estimation of aspirin's antiinflammatory action in the coronary arteries is by inference only...since it seems to be antiinflammatory everywhere else, it is probably a fair conclusion. Inflammation in small arteries is close to impossible to measure unless iit progresses to the deadly level of arteritis.
The big aspirin study was called THE PHYSICIAN'S HEALTH STUDY and it was started a quarter century ago:
This was its first phase:
[QUOTE]The 33,223 willing and eligible physicians were enrolled in a run-in phase during which all received active aspirin and placebo beta-carotene. After 18 weeks, participants were sent a questionnaire asking about their health status, side effects, compliance, and willingness to continue in the trial. A total of 11,152 changed their minds, reported a reason for exclusion, or did not reliably take the study pills. The remaining 22,071 physicians were then randomly assigned to receive active aspirin and active beta-carotene (n=5,517), active aspirin and beta-carotene placebo (n=5,520), aspirin placebo and active beta-carotene (n=5,519), or aspirin placebo and beta-carotene placebo (n=5,515). A total of 11,037 physicians were randomized to aspirin and 11,034 to aspirin placebo; a total of 11,034 physicians were randomized to beta-carotene and 11,037 to beta-carotene placebo.
Active aspirin consisted of one 325 mg tablet (as Bufferin, supplied by Bristol-Myers Products) taken every other day<
They are doing a second huge decade-long study now study now (though not on aspirin) to be completed this year.
[QUOTE]Physicians were invited to join PHS-II in two phases. In the first phase, beginning in July 1997, physicians who had participated in PHS-I were sent a letter explaining the background and rationale for PHS-II along with an informed consent form and a questionnaire asking about the occurrence of relevant medical conditions and the use of various vitamin supplements over the preceding year. To take part in PHS-II, men who were taking individual supplements containing more than 100% of the RDA of vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene, or a multivitamin had to forego the use of such supplements for the course of the trial. A total of 7,641 of the participants of PHS-I signed on for another hitch.
In phase two, invitation packets were mailed to 254,597 U.S. male physicians aged 50 years and older who were registered with the American Medical Association and who had not taken part in PHS-I. Of these, 16,743 said they were willing to participate in PHS-II and 11,128 were eligible for the trial.
Gosh beefsteak,
I have never seen a reference to that gout-niacin connection. I guess I blinded myself to it if I saw it. I am currently doing a 60 day trial WITHOUT allopurinol (to judge it's efffect on an annoying couple rashes I have) and thus I have eliminated my BP meds for the last month because I KNOW how dangerous diuretics can be in connection with gout. BUT I have been continuing to take my niacin...AND I am beginning to suspect all is not well with my right bunion joint first thing in the morning. I have even popped a couple colchicine from time to time. This isn't an excuciatingly acute pain, but seems like a chronic annoyance of an old uric acid tophus.
If you have a good non-commercial link between uric acid and niacin, let me know.
As an aside, ANOTHER reason for my use of rather generous use of aspirin that applies directly to the two of us: aspirin's action is unique: in HIGH doses it is uricosuric (good) but in LOW doses it causes the retention of uric acid...VERY BAD for gout sufferers.
(ARB's are slightly uricosuric, so that's GOOD!;) )
My estimation of aspirin's antiinflammatory action in the coronary arteries is by inference only...since it seems to be antiinflammatory everywhere else, it is probably a fair conclusion. Inflammation in small arteries is close to impossible to measure unless iit progresses to the deadly level of arteritis.