Aspirin 'aids women's hearts'
- From: Rockboy <rockboy@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 27 Mar 2007 17:07:57 +0200
Healthy women who take a low to moderate dose of aspirin could reduce
their risk of dying early, particularly from heart disease, a study
suggests.
The US work monitored 80,000 women's use of aspirin for over 20 years.
Writing in Archives of Internal Medicine, the researchers said the
benefits were associated with taking low or moderate doses of aspirin.
But UK experts said the findings contradicted other studies, and warned
aspirin could cause bleeding.
This will no doubt remain a very controversial issue where we simply do
not have a definitive answer
Professor Peter Weissberg, British Heart Foundation
The researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical
School, Boston, and colleagues monitored the women aged 35 to 60, who
were all taking part in the Nurses' Health Study.
They were checked in 1980, and then every two years until 2004.
At the beginning of the study, none of the women had cardiovascular
disease or cancer.
Each time they were assessed, the women were asked if they used aspirin
regularly and, if so, how many tablets they typically took per week.
Over the course of the study, just under 30,000 took low to moderate
doses (one to 14 325 milligram tablets per week), while 5,000 took more
than 14 tablets per week.
By June 1, 2004, 9,477 of the women had died - just under 2,000 of heart
disease and 4,469 of cancer.
Each death was compared with seven or eight other women in the study of
a similar age and situation.
Risk factors
Women who reported taking low to moderate doses of aspirin had a 25%
lower risk of death from any cause than women who never used aspirin
regularly.
Aspirin users had a 38% lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease,
and a 12% lower risk of death from cancer.
Women who took high doses of aspirin did not appear to benefit.
Writing in Archives of Internal Medicine, the researchers led by Dr
Andrew Chan, said: "Use of aspirin for one to five years was associated
with significant reductions in cardiovascular mortality.
"In contrast, a significant reduction in risk of cancer deaths was not
observed until after 10 years of aspirin use.
"The benefit associated with aspirin was confined to low and moderate
doses and was significantly greater in older participants and those with
more cardiac risk factors."
The team say there are a number of ways in which aspirin could protect
people, including preventing inflammation and cell damage from oxygen
exposure.
However, they say that because the study looked at women who chose
whether or not to take aspirin, rather than a randomly assigned clinical
trial, the results do not suggest that all women should take aspirin.
They say more research needs to be done to evaluate aspirin's effects.
'Out of step'
But Dr John Baron, of Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire, said
the Women's Health Study, which followed 40,000 women for 11 years,
found no benefits in taking aspirin.
He added: "Is aspirin really that good or is there some other
explanation for the findings that differ so much from those of the WHS
and other primary prevention trials?"
And Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the British Heart
Foundation said: "The Nurses' Health Study, while interesting, is out of
step with all the previous studies and should not therefore be used as
evidence in favour of all women taking aspirin to prevent heart disease.
"There is good evidence to suggest that people who have had a heart
attack, or are considered at risk of heart disease benefit from being
prescribed aspirin.
"However, it isn't suitable for everybody to take to prevent heart
disease, as regular aspirin use is associated with an established risk
of bleeding.
"This will no doubt remain a very controversial issue where we simply do
not have a definitive answer."
--
Rockboy
My moral standing is lying down
.
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