Preeclampsia Pregnancies and benefits of Low-Dose Aspirin

Daily low-dose aspirin starting as early as the second trimester of pregnancy appears to prevent morbidity and mortality from preeclampsia among high-risk women, according to a systematic review published online April 8 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. However, potential rare or long-term harms could not be ruled out.

"Preeclampsia, which is characterized by hypertension and proteinuria during the second half of pregnancy, is a leading cause of maternal and perinatal death," write Jillian T. Henderson, PhD, MPH, from the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Oregon, and colleagues.

"Previous comprehensive systematic reviews have found antiplatelets (primarily low-dose aspirin) to be beneficial for the prevention of preeclampsia among women at heightened risk. We conducted this systematic review to support the US Preventive Services Task Force [USPSTF] in updating its 1996 recommendation, which is no longer active."

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Should More Patients Continue Aspirin Therapy Before Surgery?

By Megan Brooks

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 20 - The practice of empirically interrupting chronic aspirin therapy before surgery "should be abandoned," according to the authors of a contemporary literature review.

They say the evidence they found in a PubMed and Medline literature search "strongly supports" continued perioperative use of aspirin in patients taking it for secondary prevention of coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral vascular disease.

"Many patients need to be on lifelong aspirin therapy for various cardiovascular indications and...other than for a select group of operative procedures, the risks of aspirin cessation exceed the benefit," Dr. Neal Stuart Gerstein from the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, University of New Mexico in Albuquerque told Reuters Health by email.

via Should More Patients Continue Aspirin Therapy Before Surgery?.