The relation of aspirin use during the first trimester of pregnancy to congenital cardiac defects

Article Abstract:

The use of aspirin during the first trimester of pregnancy is often restricted by physicians because the drug interferes with normal blood clotting mechanisms and can be related to hemorrhage of either mother or child. Despite these warnings, aspirin is used during the first three months of pregnancy by an estimated 10 to 45 percent of all women, often because the mothers were unaware that they were pregnant. It is therefore important to assess the effects of the drug on the development of congenital deformities in the fetus. Recent studies have suggested that although the drug does not seem to cause an overall increase in congenital anomalies, it has been implicated in causing cardiovascular malformation. This hypothesis was tested among a large group of infants with any structural cardiac defect and an additional group of patients with one or more of five clearly defined anatomic defects. These data were compared to those obtained from a group of 6,966 mothers who gave birth to babies with noncardiac deformities. The use of aspirin by mothers in both groups was essentially similar. No statistically significant patterns of cardiac defects were found, and there was no relationship between the amount of aspirin used by the mother and the severity of the observed defects in the children. The results of this study fail to confirm a special risk to the development of the cardiovascular system of infants born to mothers who used aspirin during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Causes of, Congenital heart disease, Congenital heart defects, Drug use, Aspirin

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Periconceptional folic acid exposure and risk of occurrent neural tube defects

Article Abstract:

A daily folic acid supplement at the time of conception and during early pregnancy may decrease the risk of neural tube defects (NTD) in a developing fetus. Different disorders characterized by NTDs include anencephaly, spina bifida and encephalocele. A study compared the use of a multivitamin supplement containing folic acid among 436 mothers of infants with NTDs to that among 2,615 mothers of infants with other types of major malformations. Eight percent of the mothers of children with NTDs took a daily folic acid supplement at the time of conception, compared with 13% of the mothers of children with other malformations. The most common daily dosage of folic acid taken by women in both groups was 0.4 milligrams, the amount contained in most multivitamin supplements. The risk of a NTD decreased with the level of dietary folic acid among women who did not take a folic acid supplement.

Usage, Food and nutrition, Folic acid

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Prepregnant weight in relation to risk of neural tube defects

Article Abstract:

Women who are obese before pregnancy may increase their baby's chance of developing a neural tube defect (NTD). An example of a NTD is spina bifida, which occurs when the spinal column does not completely close over the spinal cord. Researchers used a database of medical records on babies born with NTDs that also recorded the mother's pre-pregnancy weight. A total of 604 babies born with NTD were identified and their mother's pre-pregnancy weight was compared to the pre-pregnancy weight of the mothers of 1,658 babies born with other birth defects. The risk of having a baby with NTD increased as the mother's pre-pregnancy weight increased. Women over 110 kilograms before pregnancy were four times more likely to have a baby with NTD than women who weighed between 50 and 59 kilograms. Folic acid supplements did not reduce the obese women's chances of having a baby with NTD.

Health aspects, Risk factors, Obesity

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