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Monday, January 25, 2021
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Unlike previous findings, low-dose aspirin therapy before conception and during early pregnancy can increase the chances of pregnancy and live births among women who have had one or two previous miscarriages, suggests a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. Instead of looking only at the difference in pregnancy rates between women who received aspirin and those who received a placebo, the study also took into account differences in total aspirin use between women who deviated from the daily regimen and those who adhered to him.
The research team was led by Enrique Schisterman, Ph.D., from the NIH’s Epidemiology Department Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and colleagues. Appears on Annals of Internal Medicine.
Published in 2014, the study Effects of Aspirin on Pregnancy and Reproduction (EAGeR) included more than 1,000 women aged 18 to 40 with one or two previous abortions. The women received low-dose aspirin (81 milligrams) or a placebo while trying to conceive. If they conceived, they would continue to receive this regime through the 36º week of pregnancy. Although the study found no general difference in pregnancy loss rates between the two groups, there was a higher birth rate for the subgroup of women who had only one previous miscarriage before the 20th week of pregnancy.
Unlike the original analysis, the current reanalysis considered whether a participant adhered to the treatment or skipped days or stopped it altogether due to side effects such as bleeding, nausea or vomiting. Compared to the placebo group, for every 100 women, adherence to the aspirin regimen for five to seven days a week led to eight more positive pregnancy tests, six fewer pregnancies and culminated in an additional 15 live births. Women who adhered to therapy four days a week had similar results. The researchers concluded that taking low-dose aspirin at least four days a week can improve the chances of pregnancy and birth in this group of women.
Who
Lindsey Sjaarda, Ph.D., NICHD Epidemiology Branch Team Scientist, is available for comment.
h3> Article
Naimi, AI, et al. The effect of low-dose aspirin initiated at pre-conception in pregnancy detected by human chorionic gonadotrophin, loss of pregnancy and birth: by protocol analysis of a randomized clinical trial. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2021.
Regarding the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): NICHD leads research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, improve the lives of children and adolescents and optimize skills for all. For more information, visit https://www.nichd.nih.gov.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH):
NIH, the country’s medical research agency, includes 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the leading federal agency that conducts and supports basic, clinical and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments and cures for common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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