Drug Ingestion During Pregnancy: Infrequent Exposure in a Contemporary United States Sample

Joe Leigh Simpson; James L. Mills; Arthur Morey; Boyd E. Metzger; Robert H. Knopp; Lewis B. Holmes; Lois Jovanovic-Peterson; Jerome H. Aarons; Zane Brown; Margot Van Allen; Sherman Elias; The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Diabetes in Early Pregnancy Study Grou

doi:10.1055/s-2007-999586

American Journal of Perinatology, Table of Contents

Am J Perinatol 1989; 6(2): 244-251
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-999586

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Drug Ingestion During Pregnancy: Infrequent Exposure in a Contemporary United States Sample

Joe Leigh Simpson¹ ^, ² , James L. Mills³ , Arthur Morey³ , Boyd E. Metzger¹ , Robert H. Knopp⁴ , Lewis B. Holmes⁵ , Lois Jovanovic-Peterson⁶ , Jerome H. Aarons⁷ , Zane Brown⁴ , Margot Van Allen⁴ , Sherman Elias¹ ^, ² , The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Diabetes in Early Pregnancy Study Group³

¹Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois
²University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee
³National Institute of Child Health and Development, Bethesda, Maryland
⁴University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington
⁵Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
⁶Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York, and Sansum Foundation, Santa Barbara, California
⁷University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Drug ingestion in a cohort of United States women proved consistently lower than in prior United States populations. Participating were 342 insulin-dependent diabetic and 387 control subjects who were enrolled before conception (76%) or no later than 21 days after conception (24%). Drug exposures were then recorded at entry and periodically throughout organogenesis (gestational weeks 6, 8,10). During gestational weeks 1 to 10, approximately two thirds of the subjects were exposed to no agent other than oral iron, oral vitamins, or insulin (diabetic subjects). The mean exposures in gestational weeks 1 to 10 were 0.72 ± 1.05 (SD) for diabetic women and 0.54 ± 0.96 for control subjects; throughout pregnancy, the mean exposures were 1.26 ± 1.66 and 1.58 ± 1.78, respectively. The low exposure frequency in this contemporary United States population is highly encouraging. However, it follows that collaborative cohort efforts may be necessary in order to assess teratogenicity of drugs because relatively few women are now exposed.

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