Heartburn drugs safe for fetus during pregnancy: Study

A recent cohort study conducted by the researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of Negev has put the worries of many pregnant women to rest. According to their findings, H2 blocker drugs, given to cure heartburn, are safe for the fetus. These mainly include drugs approved in the U.S., such as Famotidine, Cimetidine and Ranitidine.

A significant relief
The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmocology, and has provided significant relief to women who experience reflux heart burn during pregnancy. The symptoms of heartburn become worse as the gestation period increases, and around 30 to 80 percent of women have been known to suffer from it.

H2 blockers are the most common medication given to pregnant women experiencing heartburn, regurgitation and having trouble swallowing.

Dr. Rafael Gorodischer, professor emeritus at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev said: "Of the vast majority of medications approved for use, there is insufficient data from human studies to determine whether the benefits of therapy exceed the risk to the fetus.”

"Medicines are approved for use only after there is sufficient scientific evidence demonstrating the drug safety and effectiveness for its intended uses."

The study
The study was done by observing the infants born to women who had taken H2 blockers, especially Famotidine, during their pregnancy.

The subjects for the study were taken from the database of women registered in the Calit Health Services in the Southern District of Israel. It had the records of their medication they took when pregnant. Another source was the records of therapeutic abortions in Soroka University Medical Center.

In the study, it was found that 1.4 percent of the total number of pregnant women were administered H2 blockers in their first trimester.

The observations revealed that the rate of congenital deformations in the experimental group, that is in women who were given the medication, was 5.7 percent, as compared to the control group with 5.3 percent.

Dr. Amalia Levy of the BGU Faculty of Health Sciences, and chairwoman of the BeMORE collaboration said, "Exposure to H2 blockers among this group was not associated with significantly increased risks of major congenital malformations.

“The results were unchanged when therapeutic abortions of exposed fetuses were included in the analysis. Also, infants exposed in utero had no increased risk of perinatal mortality, low birth weight or premature birth".