Study examines link between antibiotic use during pregnancy and congenital anomalies

Penicillin and many other antibacterial drugs are often used by pregnant women does not seem associated with many abnormalities in combination, according to a report published in the November issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA / reviews Archives. However, other antibiotics such as sulfonamides and nitrofurantoin, with multiple severe birth defects may be related and additional control. The treatment of infections is essential for the health of mother and baby to background information in the article. Therefore, the bacteria, the fight against drugs are the drugs most commonly used during pregnancy. Although certain classes of antibiotics appears safe to use during pregnancy, not big-scale studies have examined the safety or the risks associated with many classes of antibacterial drugs studied.

Krista S. Crider, Ph.D., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed data from 13,155 women whose pregnancy of one of more than 30 birth defects (cases) involved. The information collected by monitoring programs in 10 states under the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. The researchers compared the use of antibiotics before and during pregnancy in these women and 4941 randomly selected control group of women who have lived in the same geographical areas, but their children have no birth defects.

Antibacterial use increased in all women during pregnancy and reached the third month. A total of 3863 mothers of children with malformations (29.4 percent) and 1467 control mothers (29.7 percent) used antibiotics at some time between three months before pregnancy and late pregnancy .

"Were reassuring, penicillins, cephalosporins and erythromycin, although often used by pregnant women are not associated with many abnormalities," write the authors. Two errors were associated with erythromycin (1.5 percent of mothers whose children had birth defects and 1.6 percent of controls used), a penicillin (5.5 per cent of cases, mothers and 5.9 percent of controls used) a) with cephalosporins (used by 1 percent in both cases and controls) and that used by quinolones (0.3 per cent in both cases and controls.

Two drugs sulfonamides and nitrofurantoin (both 1.1 per cent of cases and 0.9 percent of controls) were used associated with multiple abnormalities, suggesting that additional studies are needed before we can be sure prescribed to pregnant women.

"Determining the causes of birth defects is problematic," the authors write. Are "One mistake can have multiple causes and multiple deficiencies apparently unbound may have a common cause. This study could not determine drug safety during pregnancy, but the absence of an increase in overall risk of many classes of antibiotics during pregnancy are, should reassure her. "