Wall Street Journal Examines Whether Women Should Take Aspirin To Prevent Heart Disease

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday examined whether women should take aspirin daily to prevent heart disease. According to the Journal, the risks and benefits of daily aspirin use are “far less clear” for women than for men. Researchers from Harvard University last week said that women participating in the Nurses Health Study who regularly took aspirin decreased their risk of heart attack by 38% and their risk for cancer by 12%. In addition, among the 80,000 participants, those who took aspirin regularly were 25% less likely to die during the study period, the Journal reports. However, an earlier Women’s Health Initiative study of 40,000 women found that regular aspirin use made no difference in heart attack risk among women ages 45 and older. The conflicting data could be explained in part because the nurses study observed women’s health habits, while the WHI assigned women to take either aspirin therapy or a placebo, according to the Journal. Although some women “might be tempted” to immediately begin aspirin therapy, it is not a “risk-free drug,” the Journal reports. Aspirin use increases the risk for gastrointestinal bleeding by 70% — or three additional gastrointestinal bleeding cases per 1,000 patients over five years — and hemorrhagic stroke by 40%, or one additional hemorrhagic stroke per 1,000 patients over five years. Most experts say that healthy women under age 65 will not benefit from aspirin therapy. American Heart Association guidelines say that healthy women older than age 65 should consider taking one baby aspirin daily (Parker-Pope, Wall Street Journal, 4/3).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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