Aspirin for Safer Pregnancy

Pregnant women are advised to avoid aspirin.

But aspirin seems rather to protect against pregnancy complications like pre-eclampsia, as found by a new complex review of 31 researches involving over 32,000 women.

The investigations pointed to the fact that women ingesting a low-dose aspirin pill daily against blood clotting presented a 10% lower complications (such as very premature delivery) levels. Still, doctors warn that aspirin also slightly raised the hemorrhage risk after delivery.

That's why aspirin could be beneficial just for a certain category of women, like those who experienced pre-eclampsia in previous pregnancies. Pre-eclampsia appears in around 8% of pregnancies and can result deadly for both mother and baby, taking a toll of about 75,000 maternal deaths annually.

The condition includes increased blood pressure and high protein levels in the mother's urine.

The meta-analysis was made by a team led by Lisa Askie at the University of Sydney in Australia and revealed that the risks of complications, like pre-eclampsia and birth before 34 weeks, lowered by 10% in patients who took just 50-150 mg of aspirin daily, as much as in a baby aspirin. The explanation can be found in the anti-clotting properties of the aspirin that help pregnant women decrease inflammation or may even impede blood clots formation. "Whilst the benefits of anti-clotting therapy are modest, they are important as, if given to women at risk of pre-eclampsia they could potentially result in many thousands less women who experience a bad pregnancy outcome," said Askie. "Particularly for women at high risk of pre-eclampsia, a more widespread use of anti-platelet [anti-clotting] agents may be worthwhile," she added.

James Roberts at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US, considers that the results of the analysis overlooked one important category of women. "Still, the drug is probably most appropriate for those who are at greatest risk of pre-eclampsia - such as women who are obese or have had this disorder during previous pregnancies. Women should consult a physician before choosing to take aspirin while pregnant".