Aspirin helps prevent pre-eclampsia

Aspirin therapy helps prevent pre-eclampsia, an age-old problem of pregnancy for which there is no cure, researchers said in a major new analysis reported May 16.

Pre-eclampsia has been one of pregnancy's greatest mysteries. The condition usually does not occur until the last trimester, and earlier this month scientists announced a saliva-based test that might spot it earlier. To this day, it remains a threat to both mother and baby when left untreated.

Dr. Burton Rochelson, chief of obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., said the new research conducted by Australian physicians confirms what many doctors had already suspected: Prescribing a baby aspirin a day helps to prevent the potentially devastating condition.

"There is a theory that pre-eclampsia is due to an abnormal inflammatory process," Rochelson said in an interview. Aspirin and other blood-thinning medications can prevent the cascade of biological events that lead to inflammation.

For at least two decades, Rochelson added, many physicians have been prescribing baby aspirin to pregnant women who develop symptoms of the disease -- soaring blood pressure, swollen ankles and high levels of protein in their urine. The disorder complicates 2 percent to 8 percent of all pregnancies worldwide and is most prevalent in first pregnancies. The disease is a leading cause of death for pregnant women.

An estimated 10 percent to 15 percent of the 500,000 maternal deaths occurring globally are directly related to pre-eclampsia. The condition can advance to eclampsia, which is marked by seizures.

Bonnie - not everyone can tolerate aspirin (approxiamtely 25% of population). Many of my clinets have babies born with salicylate toxicity when they take baby aspirin for more than the first trimester. The drug information insert says as much. I would not recommend taking ti unless a genetic test shows that it is well tolerated.

Pre-eclampsia is prevented or reduced dramatically with magnesium (and enough calcium), according to research studies. Vitamin B-6 can help remove excess fluid. Magnesium, calcium, and B-6 together can also reduce blood pressure. It is also a known fact that fish oil reduces inflammation everywhere in the body.

So why would a pregnant woman risk toxic reactions to her and her baby when safer "natural" products work as well or better?