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This commentary proposes the hypothesis that aspirin may be useful in the secondary prevention of depression. Just like aspirin has not been shown particularly effective in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, but has been show to be helpful in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, the authors posit that while aspirin does not appear to help in the primary prevention of depression, it may be helpful in the secondary prevention. Comment: Primary prevention is used in people without the disease. Secondary prevention is used to prevent a recurrence (see: https://www.iwh.on.ca/what-researchers-mean-by/primary-secondary-and-tertiary-prevention). There is some evidence that aspirin helps in depression, but the evidence is weak and conflicting. The best evidence is that it does not help overall. However, the hypothesis is interesting. Perhaps just like aspirin doesn't work for the primary prevention but does work for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, it may work the same way in depression. This article contains a nice, abbreviated history of aspirin. Bipolar Disord . 2020 Oct 22.    (retrieved Oct, 2020). There are currently 1090 pearls in the database. While every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy, mistakes can and do occur. Use databank at your own risk. All pearls © 2024 by the Internet Medical Association. Click Here to view more medical pearls.