A low-dose aspirin at night may help protect pregnant women from pre-eclampsia, according to the findings of a British-led study published last night.
The treatment led to a 62% reduction in the rate of pre-eclampsia, according to the findings of the double blind, placebo controlled trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Some 1,776 high risk women took part in the study led by researchers at King’s College, London, and Exeter University, Devon.
It involved 13 hospitals in the UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Greece and Israel.
The findings were also announced at the World Congress in Fetal Medicine at Ljublana, Slovenia, yesterday.
It found that 1.3% of women who took 150mg of aspirin daily from 11 weeks of pregnancy developed pre-term pre-eclampsia. Some 4.3% of those in the placebo group suffered the problem.
One of the researchers Professor Kypros Nicolaides, from King’s College, said: "This extensive study is definitive proof that women can take simple measures in the first trimester of pregnancy to significantly reduce their chances of developing pre-term preeclampsia."
Professor David Wright, from Exeter, said: "The results show that aspirin can prevent preeclampsia in high risk pregnancies. I hope that they will alter clinical practice and improve pregnancy outcomes for mothers and their babies."
NEJM 28 June 2017
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