Aspirin for the Prevention of Preterm and Term Preeclampsia: Systematic Review and Metaanalysis Stephanie Roberge, Phd; Emmanuel Bujold, MD, Msc; Kypros H
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Systematic Reviews ajog.org Aspirin for the prevention of preterm and term preeclampsia: systematic review and metaanalysis Stephanie Roberge, PhD; Emmanuel Bujold, MD, MSc; Kypros H. Nicolaides, MD reeclampsia is a major cause of P maternal and fetal morbidity and OBJECTIVE DATA: Metaanalyses of randomized controlled trials have reported contra- death.1 The adverse consequences of dictory results about the effect of aspirin in the prevention of preeclampsia, both in terms preeclampsia are particularly evident if it of the gestational age at the onset of treatment and the dose of the drug. The controversy is associated with preterm birth. Several may be resolved by a metaanalysis that includes several recently published trials and randomized studies investigated the particularly the large Combined Multimarker Screening and Randomized Patient Treat- possibility of preventing preeclampsia by ment with Aspirin for Evidence-based Preeclampsia Prevention trial and by examination the prophylactic use of aspirin, with of whether there is a difference of the effect of aspirin on preterm vs term preeclampsia. 2,3 contradictory results. STUDY: We performed a systematic review and metaanalysis that evaluated the pro- A metaanalysis of individual- phylactic effect of aspirin during pregnancy. participant data reported that the effect STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS: We completed a literature search of aspirin in the reduction of pre- through PubMed, Cinhal, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane library from 1985 to eclampsia was 10%; this was not affected June 2017. Relative risks with random effect were calculated with their 95% confidence by the gestational age at the onset of intervals. 3 therapy or the dose of aspirin. In RESULTS: Sixteen trials that included 18,907 participants provided data for preterm and contrast, other metaanalyses reported term preeclampsia. Eight of the included studies were evaluated as being of good quality, that aspirin may confer greater benefitifit and the other 8 studies were deemed to be of poor or uncertain quality. There was high is started at 16 weeks of gestation rather heterogeneity within studies (I2 >50%) for preterm and term preeclampsia, but no than >16 weeks of gestation, the daily heterogeneity was found in the subgroup of preterm preeclampsia when the onset of dose is 100 mg rather than <100 mg, treatment was 16 weeks of gestation and the daily dose of aspirin was 100 mg and prevention is confined to preterm (I2¼0%). Administration of aspirin was associated with reduction in the risk of preterm preeclampsia rather than total pre- preeclampsia (relative risk, 0.62; 95% confidence interval, 0.45e0.87), but there was eclampsia.4-6 However, these meta- no significant effect on term preeclampsia (relative risk, 0.92; 95% confidence interval, analyses included a small number of 0.70e1.21). The reduction in preterm preeclampsia was confined to the subgroup in studies with important heterogeneity which aspirin was initiated at 16 weeks of gestation and at a daily dose of 100 mg between them.4-6 Some of these issues (relative risk, 0.33; 95% confidence interval, 0.19e0.57). This effect was also observed have now been overcome by the recent in the high-quality studies. The reduction in preterm preeclampsia that was observed in publication of a larger number of trials the largest trial (Combined Multimarker Screening and Randomized Patient Treatment with Aspirin for Evidence-based Preeclampsia Prevention; n¼1620; relative risk, 0.38; 95% confidence interval, 0.20e0.72) was similar to that in the 5 smaller trials in which From the Harris Birthright Research Centre of aspirin was initiated at 16 weeks of gestation and at a daily dose of 100 mg (n¼639; Fetal Medicine, Fetal Medicine Research relative risk, 0.22; 95% confidence interval, 0.07e0.66). Institute, King’s College Hospital, London, CONCLUSION: Aspirin reduces the risk of preterm preeclampsia, but not term pre- United Kingdom (Drs Roberge and Nicolaides); and the Department of Obstetrics and eclampsia, and only when it is initiated at 16 weeks of gestation and at a daily dose of Gynecology & Department of Social and 100 mg. Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medecine, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada Key words: aspirin, metaanalysis, preeclampsia (Dr Bujold). Received Aug. 15, 2017; revised Sept. 29, 2017; accepted Nov. 7, 2017. and particularly the Combined Multi- relation to gestational age at onset of Supported by the Canadian Institute of Health marker Screening and Randomized Pa- treatment and the dose of aspirin. Research (S.R.) and the Fonds de Recherche du tient Treatment with Aspirin for Quebec-Sante (E.B.). Evidence-Based Preeclampsia Preven- Methods fl The authors report no con ict of interest. tion (ASPRE) trial with 1620 This is a systematic review and meta- Corresponding author: Stephanie Roberge, participants.7 analysis of randomized controlled trials PhD. [email protected] The objective of this systematic review that evaluated the prophylactic use of 0002-9378/$36.00 and metaanalysis was to examine the aspirin for the prevention of pre- ª 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2017.11.561 effect of aspirin in the prevention of eclampsia. The inclusion criteria were preterm and term preeclampsia in trials in which (1) 1 group received any MARCH 2018 American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 287 Systematic Reviews ajog.org assessment of the complete article. Any FIGURE 1 disagreements were resolved by discus- Selection of the articles sion and the opinion of a third party (K.N.). For articles with incomplete data, the corresponding author was contacted for additional information. Outcome measures The primary outcome measure for this analysis was preterm preeclampsia with delivery at <37 weeks of gestation; the secondary outcome was term preeclamp- sia with delivery at 37 weeks of gestation. Preplanned subgroup analyses were ex- amination of the effect of aspirin on pre- eclampsia, depending on gestational age at onset of therapy (16 and >16 weeks of gestation) and daily dose of the drug (<100 and 100 mg), both in the whole Selection tree for the selection of included articles. population and in the subgroup of trials PE, preeclampsia. considered to be of high quality. The Roberge. Aspirin for prevention of preterm preeclampsia. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2018. diagnosis of preeclampsia was based on the development of hypertension (blood pressure, 140/90 mm Hg) after 20 weeks dose of aspirin either alone or in through PubMed, Embase, Cinahl, Web of gestation in combination of proteinuria combination with dipyridamole and the of science, and the Cochrane CENTRAL (urinary excretion, 300 mg protein in a other group received placebo or no library from 1985, when the first trial 24-hour urine specimen or 1þ protein treatment and (2) data on the preva- was published,8 to June 2017 and from on dipstick) or the equivalent of this.9 lence of both preterm and term pre- references of other systematic reviews. eclampsia were provided in the No language restrictions applied. Quality evaluation publication or were provided by the The preferred reporting items for sys- authors. Protocol was registered in Selection of the articles tematic review and meta-analysis PROSPERO (#71275). All citations were examined to identify (PRISMA) tool was used to assess the potentially relevant studies; the abstracts quality of the included trials; the Research strategy of these studies were then revised by 2 Cochrane Handbook criteria were used MeSH terms and keywords related to independent reviewers (S.R. and E.B.) to assess the risk of bias.10,11 aspirin and preeclampsia were searched who selected eligible studies for full Analyses Relative risks (RR) were calculated with FIGURE 2 fi Quality of the studies their 95% con dence intervals (CI) with the use of random effects.12 As standard practice, to maximize the number of studies, trials with zero total events were included when we calculated pooled estimates.13 Assessment for publication bias was by funnel plots and heterogeneity with Higgins’sI2; the latter was high if 50%.14,15 Analyses were carried out with Review Manager software (version 5.3; Nordic Cochrane Center, Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark). Results Assessment of risk of bias in studies included according to the Cochrane handbook.11 The literature search identified 7100 ci- Roberge. Aspirin for prevention of preterm preeclampsia. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2018. tations, 294 of which were selected for 288 American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology MARCH 2018 ajog.org Systematic Reviews further evaluation (Figure 1). There were FIGURE 3 46 trials that investigated the effect of Funnel plot on aspirin for the prevention of preterm preeclampsia aspirin on preeclampsia. The inclusion criteria were met in 16 studies for a total of 18,907 participants.7,16-30 Thirty of the studies were excluded because data for preterm preeclampsia were not pro- vided by the authors. Details of indi- vidual studies are given in the Appendix. The quality of the included studies is shown in Figure 2; 8 studies were eval- uated as being of good quality,7,17-23 and the other 8 studies were considered to be of poor or uncertain quality.16,24-30 There was high heterogeneity within studies (I2 >50%) for preterm and term preeclampsia, but no heterogeneity was found in the subgroup of preterm pre- eclampsia when the onset of treatment was 16 weeks of gestation and the daily dose of aspirin was 100 mg (I2¼0%). Publication bias cannot be excluded based on the analysis of the funnel plot Funnel plot of distribution of relative risk for preterm preeclampsia associated with aspirin treatment (Figure 3). for studies included in our analysis. Administration of aspirin was associ- RR, risk ratio; SE, standard error. ated with reduction in the risk of pre- Roberge. Aspirin for prevention of preterm preeclampsia.