OBJECTIVE: To study the human teratogenic potential of vaginal metronidazole treatment during pregnancy. DESIGN AND SETTING: The analysis of cases with different congenital abnormalities and their matched controls in the population-based data set of the large Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities (HCCSCA), 1980-1996. STUDY PARTICIPANTS: Pregnant women (38,151) who had newborn infants without any congenital abnormalities (control group), 22,843 pregnant women who had newborn infants or fetuses with congenital abnormalities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Twenty-two congenital abnormality groups. RESULTS: The prevalence of vaginal metronidazole treatment during pregnancy was 1.7% in the case group (388 pregnant women), while it was 1.5% in the control group (570 pregnant women) [crude prevalence odds ratio (POR) with 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1, 1.0-1.3]. Comparisons of cases and their matched controls showed an association between vaginal metronidazole treatment during the second and third months of gestation and congenital hydrocephalus (adjusted POR with 95% CI: 10.7, 1.1-104.5), however, based only on five cases. The evaluation of medically recorded metronidazole treatment did not confirm this association. CONCLUSION: Our finding can only be regarded as a signal for the possible association between vaginal treatment with metronidazole during pregnancy and congenital hydrocephalus.
OBJECTIVE: To study the human teratogenic potential of vaginal metronidazole treatment during pregnancy. DESIGN AND SETTING: The analysis of cases with different congenital abnormalities and their matched controls in the population-based data set of the large Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities (HCCSCA), 1980-1996. STUDY PARTICIPANTS: Pregnant women (38,151) who had newborn infants without any congenital abnormalities (control group), 22,843 pregnant women who had newborn infants or fetuses with congenital abnormalities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Twenty-two congenital abnormality groups. RESULTS: The prevalence of vaginal metronidazole treatment during pregnancy was 1.7% in the case group (388 pregnant women), while it was 1.5% in the control group (570 pregnant women) [crude prevalence odds ratio (POR) with 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1, 1.0-1.3]. Comparisons of cases and their matched controls showed an association between vaginal metronidazole treatment during the second and third months of gestation and congenital hydrocephalus (adjusted POR with 95% CI: 10.7, 1.1-104.5), however, based only on five cases. The evaluation of medically recorded metronidazole treatment did not confirm this association. CONCLUSION: Our finding can only be regarded as a signal for the possible association between vaginal treatment with metronidazole during pregnancy and congenital hydrocephalus.
Authors: Jacqueline Soto-Sánchez; Luis A Caro-Gómez; Alma D Paz-González; Laurence A Marchat; Gildardo Rivera; Rosa Moo-Puc; Diego G Arias; Esther Ramírez-Moreno Journal: Parasitol Res Date: 2020-01-06 Impact factor: 2.289