Aspirin Increases Women's Fertility

Official data point that in the US, 10-15 % of couples are infertile, 15-31 % of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and 8-15 % of pregnancies that hold beyond 20 weeks finish in premature birth, a high risk for the babies' health.

Now, a team at the University at Buffalo and the University of Utah is going to check in a clinical trial if aspirin can increase a woman's chances of becoming pregnant and of keeping a pregnancy to term. "Aspirin has been shown to have beneficial effects in humans," said Dr. Jean Wactawski-Wende, UB associate professor of social and preventive medicine and principal investigator of the UB clinical center.

"In women who have had their first miscarriage, the reasons for losing that pregnancy are in many instances unknown. These women generally are advised to try to get pregnant again, but health-care providers can offer limited assistance on any specific actions to take to improve their next pregnancy outcome," she said.

"If aspirin can help some women become pregnant or maintain a health pregnancy, it will be a critically important finding. Aspirin is available, inexpensive and has very few side effects," she added.

"It is an anticoagulant and an anti-inflammatory agent. It may aid in implantation of the egg in the uterine wall, and has potential for producing a positive effect on blood flow to the placenta. It may aid in reducing preeclampsia. This clinical trial provides an opportunity to determine the impact of low-dose aspirin on many pregnancy outcomes."

The five years research will start this spring and will monitor 535 subjects from New York and 1,070 subjects selected by the team at the University of Utah. The subjects will be 18 to 40 years of age, and are women who have lost a pregnancy in the past year, wish to be mothers and are not pregnant when they enter the research.

They will consume 400 mg of folic acid (vitamin B9), proven to decrease the chance of birth defects in early pregnancy) plus 80 mg aspirin pill daily. Some will take placebo pills, so the researchers can assess the aspirin's effects.

The subjects will visit the UB study clinic twice a month for two months (for urine and blood samples) and will be monitored for another four months in the clinic; in case of getting pregnant they will be monitored throughout the pregnancy. "We are thrilled to be able to conduct this trial in Western New York and offer women in our community the opportunity to take part in this important study," said Wactawski-Wende.