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21 November 2005
Aspirin A Must For Postmenopausal Woman With Cardiovascular Problems 
Duke University Medical Center cardiologists have found that aspirin can significantly reduce death rates for postmenopausal women with heart disease. Their research, based on an analysis of data from over 8,000 women, found the same beneficial effect for low-dose aspirin (81 mg/day) as for high dose aspirin (325 mg/day). Despite the benefits from taking aspirin, the researchers found that fewer than half the women in the study were taking any aspirin at all. "The fact that more women are not taking aspirin is very discouraging," said Duke researcher Jeffrey Berger, who presented the findings at an American Heart Association conference. "Aspirin is a drug that has been used for many years - it is effective, inexpensive and widely available. We know that aspirin can save the lives of postmenopausal women with cardiovascular disease, so the percentage of those women taking aspirin should be in the high 90 percent. The only reason for these women not to be taking aspirin is if they have an allergy or suffer severe side effects." The women in Berger's study were aged between 50 and 79 and all had some degree of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke, mini-stroke, or who had cardiac chest pain or a procedure to open clogged arteries. He found that only 46 percent of these women were taking aspirin on a regular basis and that this group showed a 17 percent reduction in overall mortality. Even more striking, the women taking aspirin also demonstrated a 25 percent reduction in deaths associated purely with cardiovascular disease. While the women's dosages varied (30 percent took 81 mg daily, 70 percent took 325 mg daily), Berger found that both dosages were associated with a reduction in the number of cardiovascular events. "We found no significant difference between the two doses," Berger said. "For that reason, we not only encourage all postmenopausal women to talk with their doctors about taking aspirin, but if the doctor recommends aspirin, it should be taken at the lowest possible effective dose." Because the results come from an observational study, and not a randomized clinical trial, Berger doesn't claim that aspirin was the actual cause of the outcome improvements. But he stressed that the study participants were a "real-world" group of patients, from rural and urban settings, and from all socioeconomic groups. Importantly, he said that most previous trials with aspirin had been predominantly composed of men. "Elderly women have been even less studied, and these are the women who are most likely to benefit from aspirin as a preventative measure," he concluded. Source: Duke University Medical Center
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