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NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana: Women who take aspirin in
moderate doses have a 25 percent lower risk of dying than women who
never take it, a US medical study reported on Tuesday.
The research, conducted over 24
years on 79,439 women, found that women who took between 1 and 14
aspirin per week had a 38 percent lower risk of dying from heart
disease and a 12 percent lower risk of dying from cancer.
“The benefit associated with
aspirin was confined to low and moderate doses and was significantly
greater in older participants and those with more cardiac risk
factors,” said the study.
The findings appear in the March
26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the
publications of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
None of the women reported a
history of cancer or cardiovascular disease at the beginning of the
study.
Aspirin consumption cut heart and
circulatory deaths within one to five years, the study said, but
aspirin needed to be taken for 10 years before significant cuts in
cancer deaths were observed.
Aspirin is known for its
anticoagulant and anti-inflammatory properties, which could help
explain its respective effects on heart disease and cancer.
--AFP
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