Aspirin might mitigate humid heat's effect on early births

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-05-07 01:00

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Pregnant women who were exposed to higher humid heat leading up to childbirth were more likely to experience an premature birth, say international researchers, who also found taking aspirin mitigated the effect of the heat. The researchers split close to 11,500 people, who were all pregnant but had not delivered a live birth previously, into two groups, just over half of whom were given aspirin, while the rest were given an inactive placebo. They say each 1°C increase in average daily maximum temperature was linked to a 5% increase in the chance of a woman having a preterm birth in the placebo group, while this link was not seen in the group taking aspirin. However, the team also found that heat was linked to perinatal mortality - the death of a baby prior to, during, or within 28 days of birth - only among the women taking aspirin, with those in the placebo group unaffected.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: American University, USA | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, USA

Funder: The initial ASPIRIN trialwas funded by grants from the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Global Network forWomen’s and Children’s Health Research. This analysiswas funded by in-kind support to The Collaborative forWomen’s Environmental Health at Columbia University.

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