Regular doses of aspirin may help keep those blood vessels open. T his allows the foetus to receive the nutrients it needs to grow and prevents the rise in maternal blood pressure which occurs in pre-eclampsia and which can cause kidney damage, convulsions and death. S imilarly in the very old, some forms of dementia are caused by blockages of the blood vessels in the brain. There is some preliminary evidence that aspirin may reduce the severity of brain damage allowing sufferers to lead longer and fuller lives. However, as with the other new therapeutic applications of aspirin the evidence is incomplete.
Further trials are in progress.
E qually importantly it will be necessary to find out if long term treatment with aspirin does any harm. As the drug has been used so widely and for so long this may seem unlikely but as with all medicines there are always some risks. So far the only proven side effects of aspirin use are remarkably minor. About six per cent of patients suffer some form of indigestion and about one in 500 may get an allergic reaction usually itching. In some people it may also cause mild bleeding from the lining of the stomach and patients with gastric ulcers are told to use some other form of painkiller.