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For Immediate Release
Statement on Preeclampsia
March 24, 1998
The Aspirin Foundation of America considers that the latest study by the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development Network of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units published in
the March 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, is an important addition to the
expanding knowledge about the treatment of preeclampsia, a common complication of
pregnancy.
The study of over 2,500 women raised questions whether low-dose aspirin reduces the
incidence of preeclampsia significantly or improves perinatal outcomes in pregnant women
at high risk for preeclampsia.
The New England Journal of Medicine editorial on the study by Dr. William Barth of the
Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, questioned what conclusions could be
drawn about the efficacy of low-dose aspirin in the treatment of preeclampsia, stating:
"I do not believe the door is permanently closed to the possibility that low-dose aspirin
prevents preeclampsia in high-risk women. How and when we determine which women have
an increased risk of preeclampsia may make a difference. So, too, may how and when we
administer aspirin.
"These results, taken together, leave unresolved the issue of whether treatment with low-
dose aspirin prevents preeclampsia. The need to identify women destined to have
preeclampsia is clear, and we must realize that the information about clinical and historical
risk factors available today are not ideal for this purpose. Until we can identify these women
better, we cannot be sure that low-dose aspirin does not prevent preeclampsia."
The Aspirin Foundation of America recognizes and supports the importance and the need for
further research on the treatment of preeclampsia with low-dose aspirin.
The Aspirin Foundation of America is a non-profit, educational foundation that has been
collecting and disseminating health and scientific information on aspirin since 1981.
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Contact:
Caroline Perrin
807 National Press Building, Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 800-432-3247 Fax: 202/737-8406
info@aspirin.org
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