As per an investigation from a study at Faculty of Pharmacy, Université de Montréal in Quebec, Canada; women treating themselves with common antibiotics for early pregnancy infections are at risk.
Owing to the various infections that occur during early pregnancy, women tend to consume some antibiotics. The investigation claims that antibiotics like Macrolides, Quinolones, Tetracyclines, Sulphonamides and Metronidazole can be responsible for miscarriages in women.
The usage of these antibiotics is listed below:
- Macrolides: Treating respiratory, skin, soft tissue, sexually transmitted, H. pylori and atypical mycobacterial infections
- Quinolones: Complicated urinary tract infections and pyelonephritis
- Tetracyclines: Treating bacterial infections like Acne
- Sulphonamides: Mostly acne and urinary tract infections
- Metronidazole: Treat bacterial infections of the vagina, stomach, skin, joints, and respiratory tract
Anick Berard from the study’s investigation research team said that the consumption of these antibiotics increases the risk of abortion in pregnant women. This risk has been linked to scale from 60 percent to being as dangerous as a two-fold increase.
Major points from the above discussed study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal are:
- The investigation entailed the study of 8,702 cases. The comparison was weighed against cases where a miscarriage did not take place, i.e. 87,020 pregnancies.
- The sampled miscarriages were averagely timed at 14 weeks of pregnancy.
- The women involved in the study were aged between 15 and 45 years of age.
- The results from the study were determined for early days of pregnancy.
- The sampled women who suffered a miscarriage were mostly either loner, suffering from multiple infections, or facing many health issues
Berard further said, “It is reassuring to see that first-line treatments and antibiotics that are the most used in the population (penicillin, cephalosporin) were not associated with an increased risk of miscarriage.”
Also, some other common antibiotics like Nitrofurantoin and Erythromycin did not pose the same threat for spontaneous abortion/miscarriage due to their usage. Pregnant women use Nitrofurantoin to treat urinary tract infections while Erythromycin is used for treating sensitive bacterial infections.
Positive findings: In fact, Nitrofurantoin has been linked to decreasing the chances of miscarriage risks.
The way forward
The result is good news for the health entities throughout the world. However, it is disappointing and unfortunate that it comes at this time because, in spite of the implications known earlier, no measures were taken in the direction.
Health departments from around the world are expected to take clues from the findings of the study and can help themselves with the formulation of pregnancy policies.