Taking a small dose of aspirin every day cuts risks of pre-mature birth

Scientists have discovered that taking a small dose of aspirin every day can cut the risk of premature birth.

The team of researchers at the US National Institutes of Health analysed nearly 12,000 expectant-mums in Kenya, Guatemala, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, India and Pakistan.

Half of the women were given aspirin and the other half were given a placebo. 

116 of every 1,000 women who took aspirin gave birth early compared to 131 in every 1,000 women who took the placebo.

The team revealed that the risk of giving birth before 34 weeks also dropped by a major 25 percent. The risk of stillbirth was also cut by 15 percent.

The experts recommend taking a daily 81 milligrams of aspirin from your sixth week of pregnancy.

Commenting on the results, Dr Marion Koso-Thomas said: “Our results suggest that low-dose aspirin therapy in early pregnancy could provide an inexpensive way to lower the pre-term birth rate in first-time mothers.”

“Importantly, we saw no increase in serious adverse events in mothers or infants in the low-dose aspirin group, compared with the placebo group.”

The study was published in the Lancet medical journal.