Our weekly roundup of the latest developments in the world of health. This week we look at the effects of low-dose aspirin on women -- and how they differ from the effects on men. We also look at the benefits of high-dose statin therapy for some high-risk heart patients; at the problems with waiting too long to immunize children; at how adding Plavix to other anti-clotting drugs can prevent a second heart attack; and at the effectiveness of two brands of drug-coated stents.
Stay well.
This Issue:
Men, Women and Aspirin High Doses of Statins Help Late Immunizations Adding Plavix After Heart Attack Helps Drug-Coated Stents Compared In the News:
Men, Women and Aspirin Men and women may see different benefits from taking regular low doses of aspirin. The latest results from the Women's Health Study, to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show that low-dose aspirin does not protect women under 65 from heart attacks, but it does appear to prevent strokes. This is the opposite of the effects seen in men, who get protection from fatal and nonfatal heart attacks but little in the way of stroke prevention from regular aspirin use, The Associated Press reports. The study by researchers at Harvard University and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston looked at 40,000 female health professionals 45 and older. The women were assigned to take either 100 milligrams of aspirin or a placebo every other day. After 10 years, women who took aspirin had a 17 percent lower risk of stroke -- and a 24 percent lower risk of strokes caused by blood clots -- compared to women taking the dummy pill. Women over 65 had a 30 percent lower risk of stroke and a 34 percent lower risk of a heart attack -- a benefit not seen in the younger women who took aspirin, the study found. Non-smokers and former smokers fared better than current smokers. Hormone use after menopause did not appear to affect the benefits of aspirin use, the AP says. Over the course of the study, stomach or intestinal bleeding requiring a blood transfusion occurred in 127 women taking aspirin and 91 women taking placebos. The researchers could not say exactly why aspirin affected women differently than men, but said their findings highlight the importance of studying therapies in women as well as men. Most previous research on aspirin and heart health was done in men.
High Doses of Statins Help
People with heart disease can lower their risk of having a heart attack or stroke by taking high doses of statins. An international study presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando this week finds that people with clogged arteries who use statins to bring their cholesterol down to very low levels can lower their risk of heart attack by 22 percent. However, statin therapy also can increase the risk of liver problems, The Associated Press reports. The study looked at 10,001 people in 14 countries. They took either 10 or 80 milligrams of the statin Lipitor to bring their LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels to 101 or 77, respectively. After about five years, 10.9 percent of the people taking 10 mg of Lipitor had died or suffered a stroke, heart attack or other serious problem, compared with 8.7 percent of people taking the 80 mg dose. However, 1.2 percent of the people taking the higher dose showed signs of liver inflammation, compared to 0.2 percent of the people taking 10 mg. The AP quotes other experts who say that more study of high-dose statin use is needed before it can be recommended. Many doctors involved in the study have ties to Pfizer, Inc., Lipitor's manufacturer, the AP says. The study will be published in the
New England Journal of Medicine next month.
Late Immunizations
About a third of U.S. children don't get their routine vaccines on schedule, and such delays might contribute to illness and deaths. That's the finding of a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association. In the study, researchers examined data from a 2003 telephone survey of families of 14,810 children aged 2 years to 35 months. The survey asked about vaccinations the children had received by age 2, and the responses were verified with the children's doctors. The researchers found that by age 2, 37 percent of youngsters had received at least one of their vaccinations more than six months late, and some 20 percent of children had similar delays for four or more vaccinations. The most commonly delayed vaccines were for pertussis, or whooping cough -- 48 percent of the children got the shots one day to more than a year late, the researchers found. They noted that 15 of the 25 babies in the United States who died of whooping cough in the 1990s had not received any of their pertussis shots. Outbreaks of measles also have been linked to delayed vaccination, the Associated Press reports.
Adding Plavix After Heart Attack Helps
A simple treatment can save heart attack patients' lives. Two international studies presented at the American College of Cardiology conference in Orlando this week found that adding the drug Plavix to other anti-clotting medications can prevent second heart attacks. Both studies looked at people whose heart attacks were caused by a large clot blocking a major artery, The Associated Press reports. The first study looked at some 46,000 heart attack patients in China. Researchers found that patients given Plavix along with the standard anti-clotting drugs aspirin, heparin and clot-busters TPA or streptokinase had a 9 percent lower risk of death, stroke or a second heart attack compared to patients who got the standard drugs alone. The patients given Plavix had no additional risk of bleeding or other serious side effects, the researchers found. The second study, by researchers at Harvard and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, looked at 3,491 heart attack patients in Europe who also were given standard drugs or standard drugs plus Plavix. The patients who got just the standard drugs had a 21.7 percent risk of a second heart attack or an artery reclogging, while those who also got Plavix had a15 percent risk. The researchers said Plavix appeared safe even for patients about to have heart bypass surgery. Both studies were funded by the companies that sell Plavix, the AP says. The studies are slated for publication in the
New England Journal of Medicine. Drug-Coated Stents Compared
Both brands of drug-coated stents currently on the market do a good job of keeping heart arteries open. That's the good news from new studies presented at the American College of Cardiology conference in Orlando this week, which compared Boston Scientific Corp.'s Taxus stent, and Cordis Corp.'s Cypher stent. One study looked at 1,353 heart disease patients in Europe, Latin America and Asia who got one of the two stents to open clogged arteries. Eight months after treatment, people in both groups had about the same rate of heart attacks, strokes and repeat procedures. The second study found that patients with diabetes did better with the Cypher stent than with the Taxus stent. Another study found that the drug-coated stents were effective two or three years after treatment, The Associated Press reports.
Used with the permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. The above summaries are not intended to provide advice on personal medical matters, nor are they intended to be a substitute for consultation with a physician.
