|
MEDIA CONTACT: Debra Kain
561-297-2010, dkain@fau.edu
Women's Health Study First to Show That Aspirin Reduces Risk of a First Stroke
FAU Professor was founding Principal Investigator of landmark study
BOCA RATON, FL (March 7, 2005) - Researchers attending the American College of Cardiology meeting today in Orlando, Florida, reported the results of a decade-long study of aspirin and its impact on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The results are from the Women's Health Study (WHS) of approximately 40,000 apparently healthy female health professionals. The results are simultaneously being published on the website of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Charles H. Hennekens, professor at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) since October 2004, was the founding Principal Investigator of this landmark randomized trial and a coauthor on the NEJM paper. Dr. Hennekens, who is also professor at the University of Miami School of Medicine, noted that this is the first demonstration that aspirin reduces the risk of a first stroke. Based on a large number of previous randomized trials, aspirin has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce the risk of a recurrent stroke in men and women with prior cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Hennekens also noted that in a subgroup of older women in the WHS who suffered most of the events, aspirin prevented heart attacks, strokes and all cardiovascular events. He indicated, however, that further data are needed and that trials are now beginning in Australia and Europe to test these questions.
"It is important to note that the dose used in the WHS of 100mg of aspirin every other day is the lowest ever tested in primary prevention," said Hennekens, adding that he and his colleagues have raised the important and timely question that higher doses might provide additional benefits besides the antiplatelet effects. "These include improvements in combating inflammation, enhanced functioning of the vessel wall and possibly even production of substances that slow progression of arterial narrowing," he said.
FAU has received two investigator-initiated research grants from Bayer© to test these questions - one grant to study patients with heart disease and the other for individuals without heart disease but who are at high risk due to metabolic syndrome, a constellation of obesity, hypertension, abnormal lipids and elevated blood sugars. The doses of aspirin being tested range from 81mg to 1300mg daily. The results of these investigations, directed by Dr. Hennekens and FAU Assistant Professor Dr. Danielle Hollar should be available within the next couple of years.
Hennekens also was the founding Principal Investigator for the landmark Physician's Health Study which was the first to demonstrate that aspirin reduces the risk of a first heart attack. He is a research professor in FAU's Biomedical program as well as in FAU's Center of Excellence in Biomedical and Marine Biotechnology.
"We are extremely pleased to have a researcher with the stature and expertise of Charles Hennekens on our faculty," said Dr. Larry F. Lemanski, vice president for Research and Graduate Studies at FAU. "The research he is doing in this and other areas will continue to have a major impact on the health of people around the world."
-FAU-
|
