Trial To Evaluate the Efficacy of Oral Salsalate in the Treatment of Older Adults With Unexplained Anemia

There is well-defined morbidity and mortality associated with anemia in the elderly and the increasing proportion of elderly adults underscores the population's attributable risk of anemia. As a potentially modifiable factor, an urgent need exists to delineate the impact of anemia correction in the elderly. The Partnership for Anemia: Clinical and Translational Trials in the Elderly (PACTTE) consortium has been created to focus on treatment strategies for anemia in elderly patients. The data presented in this protocol provides a compelling rationale to evaluate the impact of an anti-inflammatory (Salsalate) in older anemic adults with elevated serum iL-6 levels. Subjects will be 65 years or older adults with unexplained anemia and a elevated serum iL-6 ≥ 1.0 pg/mL. Subjects will receive 750mg of salsalate or matching placebo (one pill) twice a day (am and pm) for one month. After one month the dose will be increased to 1500mg (2 pills) twice a day (am and pm) if the 750mg dose was tolerated for a further 5 months (for a total of 6 months) The primary endpoint is to assess whether salsalate improves hemoglobin levels from baseline to 6 month visit.