Identifying opportunities to improve aspirin utilization for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in a regional health care system.

OBJECTIVE: Aspirin is an important part of primary cardiovascular disease prevention, but little is known about aspirin use patterns in regional health care systems. This study used electronic health records from Marshfield Clinic to identify demographic, geographic, and clinical predictors of aspirin utilization in central Wisconsin adults without cardiovascular disease.
METHODS: A cross-sectional design was employed using 2010-2012 data from patients in the Marshfield Epidemiologic Study Area. Individuals who took aspirin-containing medication daily or every other day were considered regular aspirin users. There were a total of 6678 adults in the target region who were clinically indicated for aspirin therapy for primary cardiovascular disease prevention, per national guidelines.
RESULTS: Aspirin was generally underutilized in this population, with 35% of all clinically indicated adults taking it regularly. Adjusted models found that individuals who were younger, female, not covered by health insurance, did not visit a medical provider regularly, smokers, were not obese, or did not have diabetes were least likely to take aspirin. In addition, there was some local variation in that aspirin use was less common in northeastern communities within the regional service area.
CONCLUSION: Several aspirin use disparities were identified in central Wisconsin adults without cardiovascular disease, with particularly low utilization observed in those without diabetes and/or without regular physician contact. Methods of using electronic health records to conduct primary care surveillance as outlined here can be adopted by other large health care systems in the state to optimize future cardiovascular disease prevention initiatives.