Saturday, March 31, 2007
aspirin and woman
Long-term aspirin lowers CV-related mortality in women
27 March 2007
Low-to-moderate doses of aspirin reduce women's risk of death from any cause, but especially from cardiovascular disease (CVD), study findings indicate.
Some studies have shown that aspirin reduces the risk of heart disease and cancers, but it remains unclear whether aspirin significantly affects the risk of death, explain the authors in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Andrew Chan (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts) and colleagues examined the association between aspirin use and death in a prospective study of 79,439 women enrolled in the Nurse's Health Study, a large cohort of female nurses who have been followed-up since 1976.
Of the participants, 45,305 did not use aspirin, while 29,132 took low-to-moderate doses defined as between one and 14 standard 325-µg tablets per week, and 5002 took high doses of more than 14 tablets per week.
By June 2004, 9477 women had died, 1991 from heart disease and 4469 from cancer.
The women who reported current aspirin use had a 25% lower adjusted relative risk (RR) of death from any cause than those who took no aspirin at all (11.0% vs 14.9%, RR=0.75).
The association was even stronger for CVD death. Women currently taking aspirin had a 38% lower RR of dying from CVD than those not taking aspirin, at 21.2% versus 32.5% (RR=0.62).
There was a significant linear relationship between the duration of aspirin use and decreasing mortality overall. But, the authors note, "for death from CVD, much of the apparent benefit from associated with aspirin was achieved within the first 5 years."
They add: "In contrast, for all cancer-related mortality, a significant trend was not evident until after at least 10 years of aspirin use."
There was a U-shaped relationship between aspirin dose and all-cause death. Among those taking just 1-2 standard tablets per week, the RR was 0.70, and for those taking those taking 3-5 standard tablets a week, the RR was 0.65.
But those taking the highest doses did not have a lower risk of death than non-users, with an RR of 1.10 among those taking more than 14 tablets a week. A similar U-shaped relationship was seen for both CVD and cancer death.
Further analysis showed that there was a significant increase in death from hemorrhagic stroke among women taking high doses.
Because the study was observational, the authors say that the results are insufficient to alter current clinical recommendations.
"Nevertheless, these data support a need for continued investigation of the use of aspirin for chronic disease prevention," they conclude.
JAMA 2007; 167: 562-572
27 March 2007
Low-to-moderate doses of aspirin reduce women's risk of death from any cause, but especially from cardiovascular disease (CVD), study findings indicate.
Some studies have shown that aspirin reduces the risk of heart disease and cancers, but it remains unclear whether aspirin significantly affects the risk of death, explain the authors in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Andrew Chan (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts) and colleagues examined the association between aspirin use and death in a prospective study of 79,439 women enrolled in the Nurse's Health Study, a large cohort of female nurses who have been followed-up since 1976.
Of the participants, 45,305 did not use aspirin, while 29,132 took low-to-moderate doses defined as between one and 14 standard 325-µg tablets per week, and 5002 took high doses of more than 14 tablets per week.
By June 2004, 9477 women had died, 1991 from heart disease and 4469 from cancer.
The women who reported current aspirin use had a 25% lower adjusted relative risk (RR) of death from any cause than those who took no aspirin at all (11.0% vs 14.9%, RR=0.75).
The association was even stronger for CVD death. Women currently taking aspirin had a 38% lower RR of dying from CVD than those not taking aspirin, at 21.2% versus 32.5% (RR=0.62).
There was a significant linear relationship between the duration of aspirin use and decreasing mortality overall. But, the authors note, "for death from CVD, much of the apparent benefit from associated with aspirin was achieved within the first 5 years."
They add: "In contrast, for all cancer-related mortality, a significant trend was not evident until after at least 10 years of aspirin use."
There was a U-shaped relationship between aspirin dose and all-cause death. Among those taking just 1-2 standard tablets per week, the RR was 0.70, and for those taking those taking 3-5 standard tablets a week, the RR was 0.65.
But those taking the highest doses did not have a lower risk of death than non-users, with an RR of 1.10 among those taking more than 14 tablets a week. A similar U-shaped relationship was seen for both CVD and cancer death.
Further analysis showed that there was a significant increase in death from hemorrhagic stroke among women taking high doses.
Because the study was observational, the authors say that the results are insufficient to alter current clinical recommendations.
"Nevertheless, these data support a need for continued investigation of the use of aspirin for chronic disease prevention," they conclude.
JAMA 2007; 167: 562-572
# posted by roodbont @ 2:00 PM 
