Abstract

Background: Pre-eclampsia affects up to 10% pregnancies worldwide and is one of the foremost causes of poor maternal & fetal outcome. The situation in Pakistan is even grave with high rate of maternal mortality due to pre-eclampsia. Though multiple risk factors are associated with pre-eclampsia, it is known that first pregnancy itself is a significant pre-eclamptic risk factor. Therefore, in this study we intent to gauge the effects of low dose aspirin among primigravida women in prevention of pre-eclampsia. Methods:This randomized controlled study was conducted in Maternal Child Health Centre (MCH), Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences. Total 156 patients were enrolled in this study. Primigravida women without any other pre-eclamptic risk factor consulting before the 16th week of amenorrhea were selected in the study. One group (78) was given 75mg aspirin orally from 8-16 weeks of gestation till 36 weeks of gestation while the other group received no aspirin. Both groups were followed for regular antenatal check up. Results: The mean age of patients was 24.1 years and 24.9 years in the aspirin and control group, respectively. In aspirin group 2 (2.5%) while 9 (11.5 %) patients in control group developed pre-eclampsia (p 0.01). Moreover, we found pre-eclampsia in aspirin group was of lesser severity as compared to those in control group. Further, proportion wise the risk of pregnancy induced hypertension and eclampsia were also reduced with aspirin, however, these were not found statistically significant.Conclusion: Low dose aspirin has significant effect on primigravida women in pregnancy in terms of prevention of pre-eclampsia.

Keywords

aspirin, pregnancy, prevention, preeclampsia