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Maternal Use of Drugs for Cardiovascular Diseases and Infant Congenital Malformations

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Maternal Drug Use and Infant Congenital Malformations

Abstract

There is a clear-cut increased risk for some malformations and notably for cardiovascular defects when the mother has used anti-hypertensives during early pregnancy. There seems to be no certain difference between drugs with different mechanisms of action in this association and an increased risk is also seen in infants of women with a diagnosis of hypertension but without any reported use of anti-hypertensive drugs. It seems likely that the effect is due to confounding by indication, that is, an effect of underlying hypertension. The Swedish data add little to the knowledge of risks with other drugs used for cardiovascular disease, e.g., statins. The largest study in the literature suggests no direct teratogenic effect of statins but more information is needed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tornblad Institute for Comparative Embryology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

    Bengt Källén

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  1. Bengt Källén
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Källén, B. (2019). Maternal Use of Drugs for Cardiovascular Diseases and Infant Congenital Malformations. In: Maternal Drug Use and Infant Congenital Malformations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17898-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17898-7_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17897-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17898-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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