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Too Few Women Take Aspirin to Protect Heart
June 1, 2004 -- Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of American women, but women are far less likely than men to take a daily aspirin to protect their hearts, a new study shows.
Researchers conducted one of the largest surveys ever to see how well people followed advice about strategies to prevent heart disease. Overall, women were more likely than men to adopt the heart-healthy lifestyle changes recommended by their doctors. But less than half of the women at high risk for heart attack or stroke were taking a daily aspirin, compared with almost 60% of high-risk men.
Earlier studies show that men are more likely to be prescribed other heart-related treatments, such as blood pressure- and cholesterol-lowering drugs. But it's unclear if the same is true of aspirin.
"Aspirin use has been more difficult to study because it does not require a prescription," says researcher Catherine Kim, MD, MPH.
1 in 4 Women Take Aspirin
Kim and University of Michigan Health System colleague Gloria Beckles, MD, studied data obtained from telephone interviews with more than 97,000 people living in 20 states who were older than age 40.
The average age of the interviewees was 56 for men and 58 for women. The findings are published in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The researchers divided the men and women into different categories based on their risk of heart disease. They were considered high-risk if they reported ever having been told they had diabetes, heart disease, a heart attack, or a stroke. Intermediate risk was if they had at least two heart disease risk factors, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or smoking. Low-risk participants had one or no risk factors.
Overall, women were slightly more likely than men to report dieting and exercising, but only about two-thirds to three-quarters of either gender reported exercising or changing their diet to help prevent heart disease. High-risk women were the most likely to report making these lifestyle changes.
Regardless of their heart disease risk, women were far less likely than men to take aspirin. Just 46% of the high-risk women took aspirin regularly for their hearts, compared with 59% of high-risk men. Aspirin is typically given to people at high risk of heart disease -- as well as some at intermediate risk -- unless there is a history of problems taking aspirin, such as a bleeding stomach ulcer. 'Still a Disconnect'
Despite the recent media focus on women and heart disease, Nancy Loving says women with heart disease or those at high risk for it are still "systematically undertreated" and it is not clear why.
Loving survived a heart attack seven years ago, but says she was not told to take aspirin until two years after the event. She went on to found the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease to increase awareness about the issue.
"Despite all the attention, there is still a disconnect among women and their doctors," she says. "Women now know that heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, but very few think that they are personally at risk."
California cardiologist Karol Watson, MD, PhD, says study after study points to the undertreatment of women. Watson is co-director of the preventive cardiology program at UCLA.
"Physicians say they treat everyone the same, regardless of gender, but something is definitely going on here," she says. "For whatever reason, women don't get offered the same lifesaving therapies as often as men do."
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