The study findings are published online Dec. 21 and in the January print issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Still, much remains unknown about the role of aspirin in pregnancy, including exactly how well or why aspirin works, Roman noted. One theory is that fetal growth restriction might be caused by tiny blood clots in the placenta, and aspirin helps blood flow between the placenta and the fetus. Low-dose aspirin is also taken by adult men and women at risk for heart attack and stroke.
Dr. Michael Katz, senior vice president for research and global programs at the March of Dimes, said the study is intriguing, but the findings are too preliminary to be of much help to women or their physicians. Many women in the study were also given other drugs, including corticosteroids, and it's unknown how much that affected the outcomes.
"Aspirin is quite a remarkable drug, acting as an anti-inflammatory and interfering with platelet function to stop clotting," Katz said. "But how that translates into helping fetuses may be beyond speculation at this point."
"Behavioral difficulties," as cited in the study, is a broad term that could encompass everything from excessive temper tantrums to learning disabilities to hyperactivity to autism, he said, each of which could have very different underlying causes.
"It's hard to imagine a single intervention [aspirin] would deal with hyperactivity and all of those neurobehavioral problems," Katz said.
Still, he added, the findings are worth following up. "Anything you can do to help premature babies is worth pursuing because, for many, it's a desperate situation," Katz said. "And if they are right, it's a very inexpensive way of dealing with it."
Premature babies are
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