Women who use certain over-the-counter painkillers such as aspirin early in pregnancy may not have an increased risk of miscarriage, according to a U.S. study.
Researchers writing in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology looked at the possible connection between miscarriage and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which include common painkillers like aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen.
Some studies have hinted at an increased miscarriage risk among women who use NSAIDs around the time they conceive or in early pregnancy, but other studies have failed to find a connection.
“Our findings suggest that use of nonprescription over-the-counter NSAIDs in early pregnancy does not put women at increased risk of spontaneous abortion,” wrote study leader Digna Velez Edwards from Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Much of the evidence suggesting a risk has been based on prescription NSAIDs, Edwards said, but most women of childbearing age use over-the-counter NSAIDs for occasional aches and pains.
So Edwards and her colleagues looked at use of the over-the-counter drugs among nearly 3,000 pregnant women who were part of a larger study.
