united press international
tuesday, december 21, 2004
chicago, dec 21, 2004 (united press international via comtex) —— chicago researchers say women with diabetes are not using aspirin, an effective measure against heart attacks, as much as they should.
researchers at northwestern university said among diabetic adults without diagnosed cardiovascular disease, 42 percent of men and 34 percent of women used aspirin regularly.
their work is summarized in the latest edition of the archives of internal medicine.
there are several possible explanations for low use of aspirin among women, the researchers said. physicians may not counsel women with diabetes to use aspirin if the physicians underestimate the women's risk for cardiovascular disease events.
"however, even though women are at lower risk of new-onset cardiovascular disease than men, diabetes greatly reduces this female advantage," one investigator said.