Risk of infections during the first year of life after in utero exposure to drugs acting on immunity: A population-based cohort study.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between in utero exposure to drugs that potentially exhibit immunosuppressive activity and occurrence of infections during the first year of life. We conducted a cohort study on the prescription data of pregnant women and their children registered in EFEMERIS cohort (France), during a one-year period. We classified in utero child exposure according to the number of reimbursements for immunosuppressive drugs during pregnancy. The number of infectious episodes during the first year of life was estimated through the number of anti-infective drugs dispensed. The association was estimated by a quasi-Poisson regression with adjustment for confounders. The study population consisted of 9614 children, 3141 of whom had been exposed to immunosuppressive drugs during pregnancy. The most frequently immunosuppressive drugs prescribed were corticosteroids. The mean number of infectious episodes during the first year after birth gradually increased with the number of immunosuppressive drugs dispensed during pregnancy (from 2.38 in controls to 3.88 in the most exposed group). After adjustment for potential confounders, in utero exposure to immunosuppressive drugs was significantly associated with the number of infectious episodes during the first year of life (RR 3ormoreexposuresVS0=1.35, 95% CI 1.24-1.46). Intrauterine exposure to potentially immunosuppressive drugs could be associated with an increased susceptibility to infections in early childhood.

Analysis of chats on French internet forums about drugs and pregnancy.

PURPOSE: Some pregnant women use the internet to search for medical information. However, online information is not controlled. The objectives were to describe French online chats about drugs and pregnancy and evaluate the quality and reliability of information shared by internet users. METHODS: This French descriptive study was performed in November 2012. In order to identify drugs and pregnancy-related forum websites, we used three French key words: forum, pregnancy and drug. We explored the first 10 websites from the search result. Diseases were described using the International Classification of Diseases and drugs classified with the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical codes and the FDA risk classification. RESULTS: We selected 115 questions that were mainly posted by pregnant internet users in French forums. Drugs raising questions were mostly "nervous system," "anti-infective for systemic use" and "respiratory system" drugs. The risk during pregnancy for nearly half of these drugs had not been evaluated properly. Health professionals were only involved in 7% of the 214 answers. Internet users advised to take a drug in 21% of their answers. Thirty-four percent of those recommended drugs had not been well-evaluated or were potentially at risk during pregnancy. Finally, 12% of the answers could be at risk for pregnant woman. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that information related to drugs and pregnancy in online chats could be at risk for pregnant women. Internet users must be aware that online forums are not reliable sources of information.