ROCKVILLE, Md., Mar 17, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Aspirin used to prevent heart
attacks or strokes may have different benefits and downsides in men and women, a
U.S. task force said.
The new recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force -- an
independent panel of experts -- do not apply to people who have already had a
heart attack or stroke.
The recommendations, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, said patients
and clinicians should consider risk factors -- including age, gender, diabetes,
blood pressure, cholesterol levels, smoking and risk of gastrointestinal
bleeding -- before deciding whether to use aspirin.
The task force reviewed evidence from the National Institutes of Health's
Women's Health Study published since the last task force review of the topic in
2002.
The task force found evidence that aspirin decreases first heart attacks in men
and first strokes in women. The more risk factors people have, the more likely
they are to benefit from aspirin, the recommendations said.
The task force recommends that men ages 45-79 should use aspirin to reduce their
risk for heart attacks when the benefits outweigh the harms for potential
gastrointestinal bleeding. Women ages 55-79 should use aspirin to reduce their
risk for ischemic stroke when the benefits outweigh the harms for potential
gastrointestinal bleeding, the report said.
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