ASPREE was a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial of 100 mg enteric coated aspirin conducted 2010-2017 in community-dwelling men and women in Australia and the United States. It enrolled 19,114 community-dwelling participants, 16,703 in Australia and 2,411 in the United States. Published in the NEJM, the trial found that using low-dose aspirin as a primary prevention strategy in older adults did not show a benefit for the composite primary outcome of disability free survival and suggested harm in a significantly higher risk of major hemorrhage and a higher all-cause mortality primarily due to cancer-related death.

Mark Nelson is Professor and Chair, Discipline of General Practice, School of Medicine and Senior Member Menzies Institute for Medical Research where he is also medical director of the Blood Pressure Clinic, both at the University of Tasmania, Hobart Australia.

He is also an Adjunct Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne Australia. His research interests are around large-scale clinical trials in in primary care. He has 265 peer reviewed scientific publications, has been awarded more than AU$80 million in competitive grants and is a principal investigator on the NIH sponsored ASPREE / ASPREE-XT study (N = 19,000) investigating if aspirin extends healthy active life, and the NHMRC sponsored STAREE (recruitment to date >5000) similarly investigating if statins extend healthy active life. He also has been an author on multiple guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment and remains in clinical general practice in Hobart Australia.