Diabetes

People with diabetes are more prone than others to diseases in small arteries. They have a higher rate than normal of death from coronary artery disease, stroke, end-stage renal failure, peripheral blood vessel disease, and blindness because of disease in the retinal arteries (retinopathy). It is now accepted that people with diabetes should take an aspirin a day to help prevent the vascular complications of the disease - so much so that it is impossible, and considered unethical, to perform controlled clinical trials to prove the case.