1st August 2024 – (Hong Kong) Researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have discovered that administering low-dose aspirin to high-risk pregnant women can dramatically reduce the incidence of preeclampsia, preterm birth, and stillbirth.
Preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication affecting an estimated 2-8% of expectant mothers globally, claims the lives of 76,000 women and 500,000 infants each year. The CUHK study, conducted in collaboration with medical teams from mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, involved screening 42,897 pregnant women between 11 and 13 weeks of gestation using the FMF triple test.
The findings are remarkable. The researchers found that low-dose aspirin therapy, prescribed to high-risk pregnant women between 16 and 36 weeks of pregnancy, reduced the risk of early-onset preeclampsia by 41% and the overall risk of preeclampsia by 54%. Additionally, the risk of spontaneous preterm birth and stillbirth were reduced by 55% and 66%, respectively.
The study’s success has prompted the CUHK team to partner with the obstetrics and gynaecology department at Prince of Wales Hospital, where they have been offering free “early pregnancy preeclampsia screening” to over 10,000 expectant mothers since April 2022. Using the FMF triple test, the hospital has successfully identified 1,350 high-risk women, enabling early intervention and a 40% reduction in the incidence of early-onset preeclampsia compared to the same period in 2022.
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