Search Here

New research reveals that black women are more resistant to aspirin's anti-inflammatory effects.

The latest study presented Monday at the ICE/ENDO 2014, the joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago compared the effect of aspirin had on African American and white women.

"African American women appear to be more resistant than white American women to the anti-inflammatory benefits of aspirin in reducing cardiovascular disease and its risk factors," lead study author Nora Alghothani, MD, MPH, endocrinology fellow in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, & Metabolism at The Ohio State University in Columbus, said in a news release.

The latest study involved 21 African American and 21 white American non-diabetic postmenopausal women with subclinical atherosclerosis. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either 325 mg of enteric-coated aspirin or an identical placebo, every day for 6 months. Researchers then compared the anti-inflammatory responses by comparing the subclinical pro-inflammatory markers hsCRP and IL-6 between both groups.

The findings revealed that hsCRP increased in both groups after six months. However, it remained similar in African American women treated with aspirin and decreased by 25 percent in those treated with aspirin.

While the IL-6 increased in both placebo groups and in the aspirin-treated African American women group, it decreased by 48 percent in the aspirin-treated white American women group.

Researchers said the finding suggest that African American were more resistant to aspirin's anti-inflammatory properties.

"Aspirin therapy has long been recommended to help reduce poor cardiovascular disease outcomes. Its benefits, however, may be different among African Americans compared with white Americans. This research shows an overall blunted response to the anti-inflammatory properties of aspirin among African Americans, and it suggests that a higher dose may be required in African Americans to achieve better cardiovascular disease prevention and lessen disparities among the different ethnic groups," Alghothani concluded.