Some may increase risk of miscarriage
A new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found a link between certain antibiotics and miscarriage, during the early months of pregnancy.
The specific antibiotics that were found to increase the likelihood of miscarriage were Macrolides, quinolones, tetracyclines, sulfonamides and metronidazole. Typically, these antibiotics are not the first prescriptions doctors reach to. Instead, they typically shoot for antibiotics like penicillin, which was not found to increase risk for mothers-to-be.
According to CNN, 16.4% of women that the study found had miscarried had taken antibiotics early in their pregnancy.
The time of the pregnancy and when the antibiotics were taken is a key factor, and warning, that the study doesn’t underscore, but that other experts find important.
“One major concern is that many of these antibiotics — tetracycline, (doxycycline, a type of tetracycline) and the quinolones — are not used in known pregnancies. This implies that the pregnancies were early and were missed by the prescribing clinician,” explains Dr. R. Phillip Heine, member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Committee on Obstetric Practice, to CNN.
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