Aspirin more helpful for men

Aspirin is widely regarded in the international health community as an effective means of lowering the risk of heart attack, but new research suggests that these beneficial effects may only be enjoyed by men.

Doctors from the University of British Columbia, in Canada, analysed 23 previous studies into the effects of the drug on heart attack rates, looking at data from a total of 113,000 patients.

They learnt that the large disparity between the results of different studies was a result of gender, with those trials made up mainly of women suggesting that aspirin had little effect on heart attack rates.

"Trials that recruited predominantly men demonstrated the largest risk reduction in non-fatal heart attacks," explained Dr Don Sin, one of the researchers. "The trials that contained predominantly women failed to demonstrate a significant risk reduction in these non-fatal areas."

Following on from recent studies, the team said that the results could be explained by the differences in the structure of the heart's blood vessels between men and women.

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