Aspirin may help increase pregnancy chances in women with high inflammation, NIH study finds

What

A daily low dose of aspirin may help a subgroup of women, those who have previously lost a pregnancy, to successfully conceive and carry a pregnancy to term, according to an analysis by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The women who benefited from the aspirin treatment had high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a substance in the blood indicating system-wide inflammation, which aspirin is thought to counteract. The study appears in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Researchers at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) analyzed data originally obtained from the Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction (EAGeR) trial. The trial sought to determine if daily low-dose aspirin could prevent subsequent pregnancy loss among women who had one or two prior losses.

For the current study, researchers classified the women into 3 groups: low CRP (below .70 mg per liter of blood), mid CRP (from .70 to 1.95) and high CRP (at or above 1.95). Women within each group received either daily low-dose aspirin or a placebo. In their analysis, researchers found no significant differences in birth rates between those receiving aspirin and those receiving placebo in both the low CRP and mid CRP groups. For the high CRP group, those taking the placebo had the lowest rate of live birth at 44 percent, while those taking daily aspirin had a live-birth rate of 59 percent — a 35-percent increase. Aspirin also appeared to reduce CRP levels in the high CRP group when measured during weeks 8, 20, and 36 of pregnancy.

The authors concluded that more research is needed to confirm the findings and to examine the potential influence of inflammation in becoming pregnant and maintaining pregnancy.

Who

Lindsey A. Sjaarda, Ph.D., staff scientist in the NICHD Division of Intramural and Population Health Research, is available for interviews.

To arrange an interview, call Robert Bock or Meredith Daly at 301-496-5133 or e-mail nichdpress@mail.nih.gov.

About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD): NICHD conducts and supports research in the United States and throughout the world on fetal, infant and child development; maternal, child and family health; reproductive biology and population issues; and medical rehabilitation. For more information, visit NICHD’s website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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