Aspirin Good for Women
Reported November 15, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Women should be taking aspirin to ward off both strokes and heart disease, according to two studies by investigators from Duke University in Durham, N.C.
Researchers in the first study conducted a meta-analysis involving more than 95,000 men and women to see how regular aspirin use would affect stroke rates. Results revealed aspirin significantly reduced the incidence of the most common type of stroke in women — where blood flow to a part of the brain is blocked. It had no effect, however, on a less common type that occurs when there is bleeding in the brain.
Interestingly, the reverse was true for men. Aspirin had no effect on strokes caused by blockages but significantly increased the risk of bleeding strokes.
The second study showed postmenopausal women with heart disease can significantly reduce their risk of death by taking aspirin. What’s more, the effect was the same whether they took the drug at high or low doses.
“We know that aspirin can save the lives of postmenopausal women with cardiovascular disease, so the percentage of these women taking aspirin should be in the high 90 percent,” says study author Jeffrey Berger, M.D., who led both studies. The only women in this group who should not take aspirin, he says, are those with a known allergy to the medication or those who suffer severe side effects from the drug.
The research involved nearly 9,000 women taking part in the ongoing Women’s Health Study. Only 46 percent were currently taking aspirin for heart health.
SOURCE: American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions in Dallas, Nov. 13 -Nov. 16, 2005