Science Daily — Women who receive aspirin or other antiplatelet drugs during pregnancy are at lower risk of pre-eclampsia, conclude authors of a study published early Online and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet. Dr Lisa Askie, University of Sydney, Australia, with funding from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, along with colleagues from Australia and the UK, formed the Perinatal Antiplatelet Review of International Studies (PARIS) collaborative group and did a meta-analysis (a study which combines the results of previous trials) on more than 32,000 women and their babies. They found that the risks of developing pre-eclampsia, of delivering before 34 weeks and of having a pregnancy with a severe adverse outcome all fell by 10% in those women taking aspirin or other antiplatelet drugs. The cause of pre-eclampsia remains unclear, although it is known that complications in the maternal spiral arteries in early pregnancy can lead to irregular blood flow to the placenta, causing blood clots in and death to placental tissue. read more

Technorati Tags: aspirin, preeclampsia, pregnancy, women, antiplatelet, blood, pregnancy news