People with cardiovascular disease who took aspirin to lower their chances of having a heart attack or stroke experienced similar health benefits, including reduced death and hospitalization, whether they took a high or low dose of the medication, according to findings from the PCORI-funded ADAPTABLE Study, the largest aspirin dosing trial conducted in routine care and clinical settings. The results were presented at ACC.21 – the American College of Cardiology’s 70th Annual Scientific Session – and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine in May 2021. The study is also the first randomized controlled trial conducted using PCORnet^®, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network. Learn more about the findings here or at TheAspirinStudy,org.

Through a PCORI research funding enhancement, which the PCORI-funded COMBAT-MS study received in 2020 to quickly initiate new research related to COVID-19, the team comparing the safety and effectiveness of long-term medicines used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) used its enhancement to see whether patients taking these drugs were more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19 than the public. As reported in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, patients with MS treated with the drug rituximab were at increased risk of hospitalization but not ventilatory support or death from COVID‐19 compared to the general population.