Only about half of women with cardiovascular disease are taking aspirin, investigators report, and rates of use are particularly low among black women and patients on Medicaid.

Dr. Jeffrey S. Berger, of Beth Israel Medical Center, New York and colleagues analyzed data obtained by following nearly 9000 women with heart disease. In total, 46 percent were on low-dose aspirin therapy, which is widely recommended for preventing heart attacks.

“The results we found were quite discouraging,” Berger told Reuters Health. “The problem is that these women were those who were living in the community, and already seeing doctors and going to clinics. Despite that, they were still being undertreated.”

Women who were older or college educated were the most likely to be on aspirin, while being black, having Medicaid insurance, and living in the south or west of the US were negative predictors, Berger reported Friday at the Second International Conference on Women, Heart Disease and Stroke in Orlando, Florida.