Women and Aspirin

Q: Should women take aspirin to prevent heart disease?

A: It depends. Studies show that women at high risk for having a heart attack or stroke significantly reduce their risk if they take a daily aspirin. This group includes women who have already had a heart attack, have atherosclerosis (blockages in the arteries of the heart or other blood vessels), are diabetic, and who have multiple cardiac risk factors. Women over the age of 65, even those who aren’t at high risk, also may benefit.

But taking aspirin is not without risk. Regular aspirin use is associated with an increased risk of significant bleeding and stomach irritation, so younger, low-risk women should not take aspirin to prevent a heart attack since they are more likely to suffer the side effects than to benefit. Those women who are neither clearly high nor low risk (we call this intermediate risk) might benefit from taking a low dose of aspirin. They should discuss it with their health-care provider.

Sharonne Hayes, M.D., is associate professor of medicine and cardiology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota.