Low-dose Aspirin cuts female stroke risk: study

Regular, low doses of Aspirin can cut the risk of strokes but not heart attacks in middle-aged women, according to a major U.S. study.

• INDEPTH: Aspirin

The study examined 40,000 female health professionals, aged 45 or older. They were assigned either fake pills or 100 milligrams of aspirin, slightly more than "baby Aspirin" pills.

After 10 years, the Aspirin users had a 24 per cent lower risk of ischemic stroke, a stroke caused by a blood clot, according to the study.

But the study found Aspirin had little effect on preventing heart attacks in middle-aged women.

Women aged 65 or older had greater benefits from low-dose Aspirin. The study found Aspirin users in this age group were 30 per cent less likely to have a stroke caused by a blood clot and 34 per cent less likely to suffer a heart attack.

The findings are opposite to those of men, who benefit more from Aspirin's ability to prevent heart attacks.

"In contrast to men, aspirin did not reduce the risk of non-fatal or fatal heart attacks in women of all ages but did so in women over age 65," said Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, which funded the research.

Researchers said they didn't have a reason for the gender differences.

The findings were reported Monday at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando and were published online in March 7 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

It was the first rigorous, scientific study of whether long-term use of Aspirin in women had any effect on their cardiovascular health.

The study was led by doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, many of whom had been consultants to drug makers. The companies didn't run the study, but Bayer Healthcare did supply Aspirin.