Oral contraceptive exposure in newly pregnant women not linked to birth defects

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

University of California, San Francisco School of Pharmacy, told Pharmacy Today. “If a woman mistakenly continued using oral contraceptives during the early part of pregnancy, it didn’t increase the risk of birth defects.” Using Danish health registries, the researchers studied four exposure groups and found that prevalence of major birth defects—about 25 per 1,000 births—was consistent across each group. Nearly 70% of the mothers stopped using oral contraceptives more than 3 months before pregnancy; 21% never used oral contraceptives; 8% used oral contraceptives until 0 to 3 months