Preeclampsia Prevention Guidelines Call for Aspirin

Preeclampsia affects between 3% and 5% of pregnant women. It is a common cause of births that are premature. It can also cause swelling in the hands and feet, seizures, kidney failure and even death.

Preeclampsia is tied to an increase in homocysteine an amino acid, which is influenced strongly by genetic factors and diet. Preeclampsia symptoms include swelling in the legs, high blood pressure and others types of symptoms.

The complication affects up to 1 in 10 of first pregnancies. If the condition is left untreated it can advance and become eclampsia, a condition that is life threatening in which a woman suffers convulsive seizures late in the pregnancy or in the first week following delivery.

The U.S. Preventive Services task Force has released new guidelines and recommends that women who are pregnant and are high risk for preeclampsia receive a regular low dosage of aspirin as a means of prevention starting 12 weeks into their pregnancy.

Low-dose aspirin between 50 to 160 mgs per day, reduced preeclampsia risk by 24% during clinical trials said the task force statement.

In the task force statement, one doctor said that preeclampsia could cause serious health problems in both pregnant women and their babies. However, the good news, said the doctor, is pregnant women at high risk of developing the condition can receive a low aspirin dosage each day to help prevent preeclampsia from developing.

This could result in better outcomes health wise for both the expectant mother and her baby.

Aspirin in a low dosage daily also lowers the risk for premature birth by over 14% and cuts the risk by as much as 20% of a complication that can delay the growth of the baby said the task force’s statement.

The latest reported was written after the task force studied 23 studies that were published from 1986 to 2014.

The recent information from a recent medical journal says that close to 4% of all U.S. pregnancies are affected by the condition.

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Roxanne Briean

I am a geek, a gamer and a writer. I have always been fascinated with the online community. At the moment I work as a full-time writer and study interior design. When I'm not scouring the net in search of interesting new gadgets and software I spend my time in MOBAs or drawing.