Low Papp a, do I need to ask for aspirin?

[Ceramic272]

I just had my 12 week scan. The scan all seemed fine but they classed me as “intermediate” risk for downs. (I’m at 1/430 - apparently that should be low risk on the NHS but this trust does it differently, and they offer the harmony scan to everyone under 1/500).
The doctor said it was probably because my Papp a was low (at .42). She wasn’t clear what this meant though and didn’t suggest there was anything to do other than the harmony scan if I wanted. It’s only from googling after that I see a lot of people are offered aspirin for low Papp a. Should I have asked for this? Can midwives help prescribe it or do I need to somehow badger the doctor..?

In my Trust you'd be on aspirin, yes. We used to say get it over the counter but some pharmacists are reluctant. Definitely worth asking the GP for a prescription. It should be taken from now for the remainder of the pregnancy. The dosage would be dependent on your Trust.

I thought the aspirin was for pre eclampsia risk whcih they said was low.. it’s all so confusing! My gp is pretty much useless (they didn’t seem confident even prescribing me progesterone when specifically asked to by the EPU) but I’ll give it a go..

Low papp a is generally anything less than 0.4 MoM, so yours is normal. Maybe they meant that it was on the 'lower end' of normal.

Yes I had low Papp a for baby 1 (under 0.4) and was told to have a baby aspirin (75g) a day by the consultant I saw as I had some other risk factors and she reviewed my blood test results (midwife never mentioned anything despite the result). Try and double check with your doctor though. You can buy baby aspirin at boots.

Hm yes I had low Papp a and was on aspirin (I think it was less than 0.35).
I was already classed as high risk for pre eclampsia so was on it anyway. But they said it was needed for low Papp a too. Maybe check with midwife?

Hi saw you post.
I am currently 24weeks pregnant and also have low Papp-a 0.39 MoM. They’ve changed regulations anything below 0.45 MoM is classed as low. It used to be 0.4 (so from old regulation you wouldn’t be classed as low). My midwife said I wasn’t high risk enough so didn’t need to be prescribed aisprin (could take it if I wanted but not necessary) I think a lot lower people are prescribed. My trust offer scan on the uterine artery after 20 weeks to determine if you need growth scans starting from 28 or 30 weeks, then you have growth scans every 4 weeks as part of there policy! Xx