Everyone should know by now that taking a low-dose aspirin each day is recommended for people who have had some kinds of heart attacks and it has been shown to help prevent a second attack, but the latest discovery for the miracle drug aspirin is that it can also help Women conceive and carry a baby to term.

An aspirin a day

The National Institute of Health (NIH) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)have taken a new look at the data collected from an earlier Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction (EAGeR) trial which focused on women who had lost one or two previous pregnancies.

This evaluation of the earlier data focused on why it helped and who among the population of all women who had had miscarriages would benefit from the aspirin therapy.

They divided the women in the study into three groups, including the low CRP group (< .70 mg/l.), mid-CRP (between .70 mg/l to 1.95 mg/l), and high CRP (above 1.94 mg/l). Each group was then divided into two sub groups, one receiving a low-dose aspirin each day and a second group who got a placebo (a fake pill with no medicine.) CRP refers to C-reactive protein, a measure of the overall level of inflammation in the body as determined with a simple blood test.

Women within each of the three groups received either daily low-dose aspirin or a placebo.

In the high C-reactive protein (inflammation) levels, those without aspirin had only 44% live births but those who did get aspirin had a live-birth rate of 59%, a 35% reduction in miscarriages or, in other words, an increase in successful outcomes which is right in line with the rate for those in the low and mid-level categories.

The report also found, "LDA [low-dose-aspirin] did not affect clinical pregnancy or live birth in the low (live birth: 59% LDA, 54% placebo) or mid-level hsCRP [high-sensitivity CRP] tertiles (live birth: 59% LDA, 59% placebo)." Tertiles just refers to the fact that there are three groups. It also reached the conclusion that, "In women attempting conception with elevated hsCRP and prior pregnancy loss, LDA may increase clinical pregnancy and live birth rates to those of women without inflammation and reduce hsCRP elevation during pregnancy."

The results of the study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, also showed that the low-dose aspirin actually did lower the crp levels in those women but only reduced miscarriages among those who began with the highest CRP levels but, since it had no effect on the other two groups of low or mid-level inflammation, LDA won't help most women.

But it is important to note that there was zero evidence that the LDA caused any increase in miscarriages among the second two groups and LDA does have other beneficial effects so, based only on this study, there is no reason not to take an LDA, unlike other CRP lowering drugs such as statins.

The report by Sjaarda LA, et al. appeared in the February 2nd, 2017 issue of Preconception low-dose aspirin restores diminished pregnancy and live birth rates in women with low-grade inflammation: a secondary analysis of a randomised trial(link is external). Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2016-2917
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