Primary antithrombotic prevention in carriers of antiphospholipid antibodies without systemic autoimmune disorders

Abstract

Primary antithrombotic prevention with aspirin is not indicated in asymptomatic patients with confirmed antiphospholipid (aPL) positivity without systemic autoimmune disorders because: a) the estimated prevalence of thrombosis in unselected cases is about 1% patient-years (range 0-2.8); b) this level of thrombotic risk is equivalent to that of major bleeding associated with the use of aspirin and therefore the expected benefit does not outweigh the risk; c) these expectations have been confirmed by at least one randomized clinical trial, although with methodological limits. The management of modifiable thrombotic risk factors can be an alternative and safer strategy, considering that many vascular events occur in the presence of concomitant non-aPL triggering conditions. Whether primary prophylaxis with aspirin may be useful for some subsets of aPL patients at particularly high thrombotic risk, such as those with overt systemic autoimmune disorders or with special patterns of antibodies ('triple positivity'), remains to be established.