WOMEN MAY NOT BENEFIT FROM ASPIRIN THERAPY

WOMEN MAY NOT BENEFIT FROM ASPIRIN THERAPY

A recently published study concluded that women demonstrate higher resistance to aspirin therapy and therefore are less likely to benefit from using it to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Aspirin therapy has been proved to reduce the risk of a nonfatal heart attack or stroke by about 23%. Aspirin resistance has been reported, but the mechanism is not well-described.

The study included 100 randomly selected patients who were visiting their cardiologist for a regularly scheduled appointment. All had coronary artery disease, but only half had a history of heart attack. Researchers used a device called VerifyNow Aspirin Assay to test the percentage of platelet reactivity. The results showed that women were 4 times more likely to exhibit aspirin resistance.

The results of this study are important because heart disease is the number-1 killer of women. Most earlier studies of aspirin included only men.