Should you take a daily aspirin? - Update!

A new study, published in JAMA (Reference 6) is a metastudy - a summary of several previous studies that increases the statistical precision. Its goal was to determine what role aspirin plays in primary prevention (preventing the onset of illness in seemingly healthy people) of strokes, myocardial infarction ("heart attack"), and cardiovascular mortality. The metastudy included approximately 51,000 women and 44,000 men.

In women, aspirin was found to slightly reduce cardiovascular events - a risk ratio of 0.88 (12% risk reduction), with a Margin of Error between 0.79 to 0.99 (i.e., coming very close to 1.00, implying no effect...). The risk reduction for stokes was 0.83, with a Margin of Error between 0.70 and 0.97. Interestingly, there was no impact on heart attacks and cardiovascular mortality in general!

In men, aspirin was associated with a risk ratio of 0.86 (14% risk reduction) for cardiovascular events, with a Margin of Error between 0.78 and 0.94, and a 32% risk reduction in heart attacks (risk ratio of 0.68, Margin of Error between 0.54 and 0.86). There was no effect on strokes, nor was there any reduction in in cardiovascular mortality!

The study notes that there was a 70% increase in internal bleeding, as a result of using aspirin. It also emphasizes that men and women react differently to aspirin - men reduce their risk for heart attacks, and women reduce their risk of stroke. However, the mortality rate in both men and women remains unchanged by taking aspirin.

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Last Modification - January 18, 2006