Impact of Drug Consumption During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is something that every couple has been expected, but sometimes somehow the mom-to-be is no always healthy. Sometimes mom-to-be must consume some kinds of drugs.

In an article, as I quoted from yahoo news, a research study which was made by Dr. Anick Berard (the University of Montreal in Quebec) showed that many pregnant women still get medications long known to cause birth defects. Some medications with known fetal risk, such as drugs that control epilepsy, are essential during pregnancy

Women should understand the side effects of any drug they are taking — especially drugs treating a chronic condition — and plan pregnancies to avoid or minimize risks such drugs pose to babies, Berard added. A total of 6.3 percent (6,871 women) did so for at least one medication known to pose a risk to the fetus. Specially, terminations occurred in 47 percent of the pregnancies exposed to drugs with known fetal risks. Six percent of these pregnancies ended in miscarriage.

Berard’s team further identified birth defects in 8.2 percent of 2,842 infants exposed to risky drugs during gestation and available for assessment, compared with 7.1 percent of the 59,287 infants not exposed. The investigators call on doctors caring for women of childbearing age to conduct a thorough medication review prior to a planned pregnancy, or as soon as an unplanned pregnancy is recognized.

Source: yahoo news