By: Stephanie Riesenman for Heart1The heart protective benefits from a daily dose of aspirin may apply more to men than women, but women may experience fewer strokes when taking aspirin, according to a new study.
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Ways to Reduce Your Risk for Cardiovascular Events
Relax – stress is a major risk factor for heart problems.
Do not smoke.
Only drink alcohol in moderation.
Monitor and manage your blood pressure – if you have high blood pressure, work with your doctor to find ways to manage it.
Eat a healthy diet low in saturated fat and rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.
Keep a healthy weight – obesity is a major risk factor for heart problems.
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The study, a meta-analysis of multiple trials using aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes, demonstrated that aspirin therapy is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events in both sexes, but the benefit was different for men and women.In the study, which was published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers identified six previously-published studies that met specific requirements for measuring patient response to aspirin therapy. There were more than 95,000 people in the combined trials and more than half were women. None of the participants had documented cardiovascular disease and all but one study randomly assigned patients to an aspirin, ranging from 100 milligrams every other day to 500 milligrams daily, or a placebo. The researchers found that aspirin use by women resulted in fewer strokes, but that it did not reduce their risk of having a heart attack compared to a placebo. In men the opposite was true – aspirin reduced the risk of a heart attack, but provided no protection from stroke.
“This is good news because many of the past studies of the effect of aspirin in preventing cardiovascular events looked only at men, so physicians were reluctant to prescribe aspirin for women because there was little data,” said Duke cardiology fellow and first author of the study, Jeffrey Berger, M.D., in a Duke University news release. “But now, the combined data of recent trials involving men and women demonstrates that women can benefit just as much from aspirin therapy as men.”
The study showed that taking aspirin therapy over a period of 6.4 years would result in the prevention of three cardiovascular events per 1,000 women and four cardiovascular events per 1,000 men. Because all six studies included patients who were low-risk, the effects of aspirin might be greater in a different population. According to the researchers, the benefits of aspirin are related to the cardiovascular risk in the population.
Daily aspirin therapy did come with some risks. For every 1,000 women taking aspirin over 6.4 years there would be an average of 2.5 major bleeding events. In men, the researchers said they would expect three major bleeding events. Most of this serious bleeding affected the gastrointestinal tract, but the studies also showed a 69 percent increase for men of having a hemorrhagic stroke.
“For this reason, while we believe that many more people could benefit from taking aspirin, it is important for patients and there physicians to discuss the issue and weigh the benefits and potential drawbacks of this therapy,” said Dr. Berger.
Dr. Berger also said aspirin should not replace other ways of reducing cardiovascular risks such as exercise and eating a proper diet. The researchers also point out that their findings should be interpreted with caution because the doses of aspirin in the studies varied, as well as the duration of treatment and follow-up times. They say more studies are needed in order to make any real conclusions about sex differences in response to aspirin therapy.
