The drug is likely to cause birth defects

There has long been evidence that pregnant women use certain drugs that can cause miscarriage, stillbirth or pregnancy with birth defects. According to epidemiological studies, nearly 2% of birth defects are caused by drugs that mothers have used during pregnancy; Malformations are determined when drugs affect muscle structure or function mandarins are forming.

It has also been noted that more than 8,000 newborns have congenital amputation due to the consequences of their use of thalidomide sedative during pregnancy. Since then, people are more concerned about the safety of the drug when used in pregnancy, especially about the possibility of teratogenicity.

Nearly 2,000 drugs have been tested on animals, of which 580 are teratogenic and 150 in question. But there is a problem that the teratogenic drugs for animals may not be teratogenic to humans and vice versa. Therefore, caution should be exercised when administering drugs to pregnant women and that pregnant women themselves need to know these drugs to avoid use during pregnancy.

Those drugs are:

- Vitamins:

1. Vitamin A: High doses used during pregnancy will cause fetal facial, skull, heart, genital deformities.
2. Vitamin B6: Prolonged use causes seizures.
3. Vitamin C: High doses can cause deformities.
4. Vitamin D: High dose causes hypertension, mental retardation.
5. Vitamin E: Use much to cause diarrhea for children.

- Gastrointestinal drugs: cimetidine: causes jaundice in newborns.

- Corticosteroids: Inhibits the adrenal cortex, opening the lips and cleft palate if prolonged use in pregnancy.

- Respiratory medicine :

1. Salbutamol and ephedrine make heart fast.
2. Aminophyllin causes rapid heartbeat, hyperglycemia.

- Anti-cancer drugs:

1. Methotrexate, mercaptopurin cause stillbirth, birth defects, hydrocephalus, cranial pregnancy, cleft lip, limb deformity.
2. Cyclophosphamid causes premature birth, deformity of limbs, ears.

- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs : Causes patent ductus arteriosus, necrotizing enterocolitis.

- Antibiotics :

1. Penicillin: High doses can cause stillbirth.
2. Tetracycline: Yellow teeth, yellow skin, deformity in limbs.
3. Bactrim: Increased risk of jaundice in premature babies.
4. Griseofulvin: Causes miscarriage and birth defects.
5. Norfloxacin: Influence on fetal cartilage development.
6. Neomycin: Causes jaundice.
7. Lincomycin: Affects bone development.
8. Metronidazole: Influence on fetal chromosomes, causing birth defects.
9. Isoniazid: Causes damage to the fetal nervous system.
10. Rifampicin: Causes bone deformities, decreases sperm count in male children.

- Medications for converting enzyme - anti- cholinergic : cause slow skull, intestinal obstruction, urinary tube disease.

- Anti-thyroid drugs : Methimazole - carbimazole : causing deformity in the face, narrowing of the nostrils and esophagus, mental retardation.

- Antiepileptic drugs:

1. Carbamazepine - valproate sodium (VPA), which causes facial deformities, spina bifida, deviation of urinary tract, cardiac deformity, abdominal loophole, speech delay, and myopia.
2. Trimethadion - hydantoin causes deformities in the central nervous system, underdeveloped nose.

- Drugs with androgenic activity : Danazol causes male fetalization.

- Hypoglycemic drugs: Causing low blood glucose levels in newborns.

- Mental disorder medicines: Lithium poses a risk of heart disease for children, causing digestive dysfunction, causing diabetes insipidus.

- Sedative:

1. Barbiturates: Causes liver dysfunction, easy bleeding.
2. Meprobamat: Mental retardation, congenital heart defects.
3. Diazepam: Babies born with asphyxia, jaundice, poor feeding.
4. Phenergan: Affects platelet function.
5. Thalidomid: Visceral deformity, short limbs.

- Synthetic estrogen drugs : Diethylstibestrol causes vaginal epidermal cancer, genital malformations, female urology, in male genital malformation.

- Hematology drugs:

1. Warfapin : Causes deformities in the skeleton, small head, optic neurodegeneration, slow mental development.
2. Dicoumarol: Pregnancy and bleeding in newborns.

- Analgesic:

1. Methadon : Causes respiratory failure at birth.
2. Aspirin: Causes bleeding in newborns.
3. Sodium salicylate: May cause fetal death.
4. Indomethacin: Impaired renal function.

- Cardiovascular drugs:

1. Methyl dopa: Infants have small head rings.
2. Propanolol: Causes slow fetal heart rate, hypoglycemia.
3. Reserpin: Make the child lethargic, suckle less, and lower body temperature.

- Malaria medicine:

1. Quinine: High dose causes hydrocephalus, kidney deformity, and limbs, can cause stillbirth, congenital deafness, mental retardation.
2. Chloroquin: Mother treated deafness in children, retinal damage.

- The drug works to reduce the activity of sebaceous glands in the skin and anti-inflammatory .

1. Retinoid - isotretinoin - etretinat: Causes deformities in the central nervous system and heart disease.

In summary, pregnant women need to know about drugs that are at risk of causing birth defects to avoid using and ensuring maternity safety.

According to DS. Phan Quoc Dong