Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993 TAG: 9310210104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-20 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Several studies have found that aspirin can forestall high blood pressure during pregnancy among those who are at high risk of the condition, known as pre-eclampsia.
Some doctors also recommend low doses of aspirin to women at moderate or low risk on the theory that it might help and probably is not harmful. However, there was no clear proof of these assumptions.
The new study was intended to see if all first-time pregnant women would benefit from minuscule doses of daily aspirin. It found the advantages were slight and did not improve the health of newborns.
The study, based on 3,135 pregnant women, was conducted by Dr. Baha M. Sibai of the University of Tennessee and colleagues from nine other institutions. The results were published in today's New England Journal of Medicine.
Pre-eclampsia is the leading cause of maternal death around the world. In the United States, pre-eclampsia is implicated in about one-quarter of all premature deliveries.
In the latest study, doctors randomly divided the women into two groups. Half got tiny daily doses of aspirin, about one-fifth of an ordinary aspirin tablet, while the rest took look-alike dummy pills.
When it was over, pre-eclampsia had occurred among 5 percent of the women taking aspirin and 6 percent of those in the comparison group. But another rare complication - premature separation of the placenta from the uterus - was more common in the aspirin takers.
Sibai said the results were disappointing, and he called the placenta complication "the most surprising finding of the study."
by CNB