A recent study has revealed that there is a significant reduction in the case of cardiovascular events as a result of the use of aspirin, both in the case of men and women. In the case of men, the chances of heart attacks are reduced, while in the case of women, the possibilities of strokes occurring are reduced. The exact role of aspirin in bringing down such risks are not yet known.
It is also not clear if the beneficial roles between women and men vary. The Duke University’s Jeffrey S. Berger along with his colleagues performed a meta-analysis of the aspirin therapy which was sex-specific, to better understand the connection between the response to aspirin and sex. Six trials were conducted with a total of 95,456 people, one trial included women, 3 trials took only men into account, while two others included both the sexes. All major cardiovascular events like nonfatal stroke, nonfatal heart attack, and cardiovascular death were examined separately.The study showed that among the 51,342 women, there were a total of 364 cardiovascular deaths, 469 heart attacks, and 625 strokes. Aspirin therapy contributed towards a reduction of 12% in the case of cardiovascular events, and 17% in the case of stroke. In the case of cardiovascular death and heart attacks, the effect was not seen to be very significant.
In the case of the 44,114 men, the number of heart attacks amounted to 1,023, the stroke incidences were at 597, while the cardiovascular deaths were at 776. There was a 14% fall in cardiovascular events as a result of the aspirin therapy. There was also a 70% higher risk of bleeding events in the case of the aspirin treatment for both men and women.
