On Aspirin Therapy

When it comes to the role of aspirin in preventing cardiovascular events, men are from heart attacks, and women are from strokes.


For both men and women, aspirin therapy provides significant protection against cardiovascular events, but it works in different ways depending upon gender. Aspirin protects women against ischemic strokes, but not myocardial infarction or death, while it affords men protection against MI, but not strokes or cardiovascular mortality.


Those conclusions are drawn from results of a meta-analysis conducted by David L. Brown, M.D., of the State University of New York here and colleagues at other centers, and published in the Jan. 18 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.


"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 co-author Jeffrey Berger, M.D, of Duke University in Durham, N.C. "But now, the combined data of recent trials involving women demonstrates that women can benefit just as much from aspirin therapy as men."

So therefore, both males and females benefit, but in different ways. Intriguing, no?

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