Evaluation of Association Between Oral and Topical Terbinafine Use in Pregnancy and Risk of Major Malformations and Spontaneous Abortion

Abstract

Terbinafine is a commonly used antifungal agent, but safety data of its use in pregnancy are limited. To examine the association between oral and topical terbinafine exposure in pregnancy and the risk of major malformations and spontaneous abortion. A nationwide, registry-based cohort study was conducted in Denmark from January 1, 1997, to December 31, 2016, in a cohort of 1 650 649 pregnancies. Data analysis was performed from July 11 to October 20, 2019. Pregnancies were matched on propensity scores comparing oral terbinafine exposed vs unexposed (1:10 ratio), topical terbinafine exposed vs unexposed (1:10), and oral vs topical terbinafine exposed (1:1). Filled prescriptions for oral or topical terbinafine. Logistic regression was used to compute prevalence odds ratios for the primary outcome of major malformations and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to compute hazard ratios for the secondary outcome of spontaneous abortion. Based on a cohort of 1 650 649 pregnancies, oral terbinafine-exposed (n = 891 pregnancies; mean [SD] age, 30.4 [6] years) and topical terbinafine-exposed (n = 3174; mean [SD] age, 29.5 [5.4] years) pregnancies were identified; up to a total of 40 650 unexposed pregnancies were included for the matched outcome analyses. In propensity-matched comparisons of the risk of major malformations, the prevalence odds ratios were 1.01 (95% CI, 0.63-1.62) for oral terbinafine-exposed vs unexposed pregnancies (absolute risk difference [ARD], 0.04%; 95% CI, -1.69% to 1.76%), 1.08 (95% CI, 0.81-1.44) for topical terbinafine-exposed vs unexposed pregnancies (ARD, 0.26%; 95% CI, -0.73% to 1.26%), and 1.18 (95% CI, 0.61-2.29) for oral vs topical terbinafine-exposed pregnancies (ARD, 0.59%; 95% CI, -1.71% to 2.88%). For the risk of spontaneous abortion, the hazard ratios were 1.06 (95% CI, 0.86-1.32) for oral terbinafine-exposed vs unexposed pregnancies (ARD, 0.13%; 95% CI, -1.97% to 2.24%), 1.04 (95% CI, 0.88-1.21) for topical terbinafine-exposed vs unexposed pregnancies (ARD, 0.17%; 95% CI, -0.64% to 0.98%), and 1.19 (95% CI, 0.84-1.70) for oral vs topical terbinafine-exposed (ARD, 1.13%; 95% CI, -2.23% to 4.50%) pregnancies. Among pregnancies exposed to oral or topical terbinafine, no increased risk of major malformations or spontaneous abortion was identified.