Aspirin Helpful for Postmenopausal Women

In a report given at the American HeartAssociation's Scientific Sessions 2005,researchers concluded that aspirin cansignificantly reduce death rates for postmenopausalwomen with cardiovasculardisease (CVD). According to Jeffery S.Berger, MD, lead author and cardiologyfellow at Duke University Medical Centerin Durham, NC, "Women with CVD shouldbe on aspirin unless there is a medicalcontraindication."

Data from 8928 women with CVD whowere enrolled in the Women's HealthInitiative Observational Study were usedfor the analysis. Among these women,46% reported taking aspirin; of thisgroup, 30% were taking 81 mg and 70%were taking 325 mg. After 6.5 years ofparticipating in the study, 956 of thewomen with CVD had died. The womentaking aspirin had a 17% reduction indeath from all causes, and a 25% lowerdeath rate from heart disease, researcherssaid.

For the prevention of cardiovascularevents, both doses of aspirin were associatedwith an 11% reduction of strokeand other events. Researchers noted nosignificant difference between the effectivenessof the dosage amounts. Theyalso noted that these results only applyto postmenopausal women, and may notapply to younger women with CVD.