Antibiotics and risk of congenital malformations, a study

Sulfonamide and nitrofurantoin antibiotics seem to be associated with an increased risk of several congenital malformations when used during pregnancy, according to a U.S. study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

You should know that antibiotics are among the most commonly used drugs during pregnancy, treatment of infections is critical to the health of mother and child. But no large study had yet evaluated the safety of many classes of antibiotics in pregnant women, stress Krista Crider and colleagues from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta (Georgia). They focused on the issue.

The researches compared 13,155 women who had a child victim of a congenital malformation and 4941 "control" women whose pregnancy has not suffered such an event. The use of an antibiotic from one month before pregnancy and after the first quarter gave 14.2% women whose pregnancy was affected by a congenital malformation and 13% of women in control group.

The most used antibiotics were penicillins (5.5% and 5.9% in control group), erythromycin (1.5% and 1.6%), nitrofurantoin and sulfonamides (1, 1% and 0.9%), cephalosporins (1, 1%) and quinolones (0.3 and 0.3 %).

The sulfonamides were associated with the largest number of congenital malformations. Taking them during pregnancy was associated with a risk of anencephaly multiplied by 3.4, hypoplastic left ventricle by 3.2, coarctation of the aorta by 2.7, atresia of the nasal cavity by 8, limb defects by 2.5 and diaphragmatic hernia by 2.4.

The nitrofurantoin was associated with a risk 3.7 times higher for anophthalmia or microphthalmia, a risk 4.2 times higher  for left ventricular hypoplasia and a risk 2.1 times higher for "cleft lip".

The erythromycins were associated with two congenital anomalies (anencephaly and limb defects).

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