Antiplatelet Agents and Arterial Thrombosis

There is an increase in arterial thrombotic events in the elderly. Elderly patients are more likely to have associated diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, and when age is confounded by these other predisposing factors, the risk of an arterial ischemic event increases disproportionately. Antithrombotic therapy for geriatric patients is underused, even when one adjusts for potential drug contraindications. This article focuses on the action of the currently available antiplatelet agents—aspirin, clopidogrel, and glycoprotein IIb/IIIa (GPIIb/IIIa) receptor antagonists, and assesses their effects in different disease states, with special attention to data that examine the geriatric population.