Women at high risk of preeclampsia are said to have a 60% reduction in risk of preterm delivery by taking aspirin daily.
Aspirin will never cease to amaze us. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that this antiplatelet may reduce the risk of preeclampsia in high risk women.
This pregnancy pathology affects around 40,000 pregnant women each year in France. It is manifested by an increase in blood pressure. By reducing the flow of blood to the placenta, and therefore to the fetus, preeclampsia promotes premature delivery. In France, a third of premature births are attributed to this disease. And with 20 deaths per year, it remains the second leading cause of maternal death.
Aspirin for prevention
Several studies have shown that the administration of low-dose aspirin made it possible to prevent the risk of pre-eclampsia in women at risk (diabetes, chronic hypertension, multiple pregnancy or even first pregnancy). Today, this medicine is only used in women with a history of preeclampsia to prevent a recurrence.
The interest of the work of the team from King’s College London and the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) is to validate the effectiveness of this treatment in primary prevention. For this, they selected more than 1,800 women at risk across Europe and Israel. Half received 150 mg of aspirin per day throughout the pregnancy, while the other half unknowingly took a placebo. Doctors did not know which women were treated with aspirin.
Fewer premature deliveries
While aspirin did not reduce the incidence of preeclampsia in these women, the number of preterm births dropped drastically. Childbirth before the 34e week decreased by 82%, and those before the 37e 62% week.
For Prof. Kypros Nicolaides, responsible for this work, these results are “definitive proof” of the effectiveness of aspirin. He therefore believes that taking a low dose daily from the first trimester of pregnancy is a simple treatment to prevent pre-eclampsia.
A dose which is, moreover, safe for the fetus. On its site, the Reference Center on Teratogenic Agents (CRAT) recalls that at “anti-aggregating doses, it is possible to use aspirin regardless of the term of pregnancy”. On the other hand, doses greater than 500 mg are “formally contraindicated” from 6e month of pregnancy.
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