Pregnancy Over 40, Possible Cause Of Birth Defects: Antibiotics
Some antibiotics are necessary for pregnant women, however, there are certain categories which should be avoided to prevent birth defects.Sulfonamides and nitrofurantoins could cause problems for your unborn baby. Of course, talk with both your doctor and pharmacist before taking anything in pregnancy.
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Antibacterial use among all women increased during pregnancy, peaking during the third month. A total of 3,863 mothers of children with birth defects (29.4 percent) and 1,467 control mothers (29.7 percent) used antibacterials sometime between three months before pregnancy and the end of pregnancy.
SEE ALSO: PREGNANCY AND FERTILITY DETOXIFICATION (getpregnantover40.com)
"Reassuringly, penicillins, erythromycins and cephalosporins, although used commonly by pregnant women, were not associated with many birth defects," the authors write. Two defects were associated with erythromycins (used by 1.5 percent of the mothers whose children had birth defects and 1.6 percent of controls), one with penicillins (used by 5.5 percent of case mothers and 5.9 percent of controls), one with cephalosporins (used by 1 percent of both cases and controls) and one with quinolones (used by 0.3 percent of both cases and controls).Two medications -- sulfonamides and nitrofurantoins (each used by 1.1 percent of cases and 0.9 percent of controls) -- were associated with several birth defects, suggesting that additional study is needed before they can be safely prescribed to pregnant women.
from:
sciencedaily.com
