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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 For starters, some studies suggest that aspirin has benefits for older women and those who have cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity, Chan said. "Our study and the Women's Heath Study do suggest that there is a potential role of aspirin for women who have subclinical cardiovascular disease," he added.
That statement meshes with prevention guidelines issued in 2004 by the American Heart Association. The guidelines recommend aspirin for women at high risk of heart disease or who already have cardiovascular disease, but they don't apply to women at low risk for the disease. For intermediate-risk women, aspirin can be considered if blood pressure is under control and the benefits are believed to outweigh risks, such as gastrointestinal bleeding.
But the decision to take aspirin, or any other medication, should not be made by an individual alone, Chan said.
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"I tell women that, at this point, the decision calls for consultation with a doctor," he said. "Aspirin does have side effects, so it is something that has to be individualized. It would be very naive to recommend that treatment for all women across the board."
The new study included information on 29,000 participants in the Nurses' Health study who took between 1 and 14 standard 325-milligram aspirin tablets a week and 5,002 women who took more than 14 tablets weekly.
The reduction in cancer risk that became evident after 10 years was an intriguing finding, Chan said. The Women's Health Study found no such reduction over a decade, he said.
"One important message is that the study suggests the mechanisms at play for cardiovascular disease and cancer are potentially common," Chan said. "This provides further grounds for research into these mechanisms."
Dr. Jeffrey Berger, a cardiology fellow at Duke University who has done related research, said the new report describes "another very large study that tells us individuals who take aspirin live longer. You can't argue with that. We can't prove cause-and-effect, but we can say that when you take aspirin, there is a reduction in overall deaths."
It's important to remember that aspirin has benefits for both men and women, Berger added. "How it benefits men, how it benefits women, that is an important issue at this time," he said.
And anyone who is thinking about daily aspirin "should really talk with doctors about the benefits and risks," Berger said.
More information
Guidelines about aspirin and other preventive measures for women are presented by the American Heart Association.
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