Aspirin Helps Women Live Longer

In a 24 year long study, aspirin was shown to reduce the chance of death in women. The results were even more substantial in older women and those who were at risk of heart disease. Findings were published today and have doctors and patients interested in the results.

80,000 women were included in the over two decade long study. Findings include that women who took aspirin had a 25% less chance of dying than those who never took it at all. The women were all of middle-age or older and worked as nurses.

Study results also indicated that the women taking aspirin had a 38% less chance of dying from cardiovascular disease and a 12% less chance of death from cancer.

Past studies have shown a lower risk of heart attacks in men who took aspirin daily and less risk of strokes for women who took it as well. As a result many doctors have advised patients who have had a stroke or heart attack to take baby aspirin as a precautionary.

Now it may very well be that Aspirin helps prevent death and is something that can benefit healthy women as well.

Aspirin does have negative side effects and can be harmful for some people so it is best for women (or men) who are considering taking it as a preventative to speak with their doctor first. Aspirin can cause bleeding, ulcers and other dangerous results.

The latest study released today in the Internal Medicine archives sounds really convincing of the powers of Aspirin because of the large size and length of the research. The 80,000 women with the average starting age of 46 and around age 70 at the end of the study showed that aspirin taking seemed to make a big difference.

But the results of the study need to be considered carefully. More accurate data comes to play when participants are randomly selected and told which part they will take. In this study, the nurses chose whether or not to take the aspirin and those who did may have taken better care of themselves or had other helpful factors on their side. Also other medications during the 24 year time frame were not taken into factoring results.

What they did consider when comparing the over 9,000 deaths among the group of women who survived were whether or not they reported taking aspirin, their smoking status, blood pressure levels, weight and diabetes.

The number one cause of death among the women was cancer.

Aspirin is thought to help prevent cancer because of its anti-inflammatory results.

Bayer coined the name Aspirin for their pain reliever. The drug helps minor aches and pains as well as fighting off a fever. It also has a blood thinning aspect and should be taken only when it's suggested depending on the patient's reasons and symptoms.

Sources:

Carla K. Johnson. "Aspirin shows benefit in older women" Newsday.com

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-aspirin--women,0,6946186.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

Wikipedia. "Aspirin" wikipedia.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin