Preconception Aspirin increases pregnancy rate in women with prior pregnancy loss and high-grade inflammation.

Women with prior pregnancy loss who took low dose aspirin (LDA) have a 35% increase chance of pregnancy and live birth rate over those who took placebo according to a recent research published in issue of The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Inflammation is one of the many causes associated with infertility and CDC reports that 12% women of childbearing age in US are unable to conceive.[1]

This new study was carried out by Lindsey A. Sjaarda and her colleagues at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), a subdivision of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the effects of LDA on conception, pregnancy loss, live births and inflammation during pregnancy.

This is a secondary analysis of data from a Randomized Trial, Effectsof Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction (EAGeR) trial. The original study was carried out to study the effect of LDA on live birth rates in women with recurrent pregnancy loss.

The trial was carried out at multiple centers across United States. The study recruited 1,228 healthy females, ages 18 to 40 years who had a prior history of pregnancy loss and were trying to conceive at the time of enrollment in the trial.

The study participants were divided into 3 groups based on levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), low: < .70 mg/L; mid-level: 0.70-<1.95 mg/L; high: ≥1.95 mg/L.

The women received 81 mg of aspirin, at-least 6 months prior to conception and up to 36 weeks into pregnancy while the control received placebo. 

Women in the high CRP group, benefitted most from the aspirin therapy with 59% birthrate vs. Placebo (44%). LDA did not have any effect on live births for women in low level CRP group (59% LDA, 54% placebo) or mid-level CRP group (59% LDA, 59% placebo).

Aspirin supplements in women who conceived also brought down CRP levels considerably when measured at 8, 20, and 36 weeks of pregnancy.

The researchers stressed the need for additional larger studies in future to replicate and  confirm the findings from this study.

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[1] https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/infertility/