The safety of immunotherapy during pregnancy.

A group of 121 pregnancies from 90 atopic mothers who had received immunotherapy during pregnancy were studied retrospectively with the use of physician or maternal questionnaires and obstetric records. The incidence of prematurity, toxemia, abortion, neonatal death, and congenital malformation was no greater than that for the general population. The offspring of the treated mothers developed allergic disease as frequently as children born into allergic families. A group of 147 untreated pregnancies of atopic mothers were similarly studied, and the incidence of those parameters were similar except for a greater incidence of abortion. The implications of these findings are discussed.