• Rheumatology · May 2021

    Fetal safety of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine use during pregnancy: a nationwide cohort study.

    • Niklas Worm Andersson, Lone Skov, and Jon Trærup Andersen.
    • Department of Epidemiology Research, Statens Serum Institut.
    • Rheumatology (Oxford). 2021 May 14; 60 (5): 2317-2326.

    ObjectiveThe antimalaria 4-aminoquinoline drugs chloroquine and HCQ are used in the treatment of a wide range of CTDs. Data to inform on the safety of their use in pregnancy are limited.MethodsIn a Danish nationwide cohort study from 1996 through 2016, we identified 4-aminoquinoline-exposed pregnancies from a cohort of 1 240 875 pregnancies to investigate the associated risks of major birth defects, preterm birth, and small size for gestational age (SGA). Distinct study cohorts of propensity-score-matched 4-aminoquinoline-exposed and unexposed pregnancies (in a 1:1 ratio) were established for each outcome analysis. The association with the outcomes was assessed by prevalence odds ratios (ORs) estimated through logistic regression. The associated risks for chloroquine and HCQ were individually assessed through additional analyses.ResultsA total of 1487 pregnancies exposed to 4-aminoquinolines (1184 chloroquine- and 303 HCQ-exposed) were identified. Among the 983 pregnancies exposed to 4-aminoquinolines in the first trimester, 34 infants (3.5%) were diagnosed with major birth defects as compared with 36 (3.7%) among the matched unexposed pregnancies (prevalence OR, 0.94; 95% CI: 0.59, 1.52). Exposure to 4-aminoquinolines in pregnancy was neither associated with an increased risk of preterm birth (prevalence OR, 0.97; 95% CI: 0.73, 1.28) or SGA (prevalence OR, 1.18; 95% CI: 0.93, 1.50), compared with unexposed pregnancies. No significant associations between exposure to chloroquine or HCQ individually and risk of the outcomes were identified.ConclusionAmong pregnancies exposed to 4-aminoquinolines (chloroquine and HCQ), no increased risk of major birth defects, preterm birth, or SGA was identified.© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…