Birth outcome following maternal use of metoclopramide

doi:10.1046/j.1365-2125.2000.00127.x

If you are seeing this message, you may be experiencing temporary network problems. Please wait a few minutes and refresh the page. If the problem persists, you may wish to report it to your local Network Manager.

It is also possible that your web browser is not configured or not able to display style sheets. In this case, although the visual presentation will be degraded, the site should continue to be functional. We recommend using the latest version of Microsoft or Mozilla web browser to help minimise these problems.

Wiley InterScience

British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology

Volume 49 Issue 3, Pages 264 - 268

Published Online: 24 Dec 2001

The Journal of The British Pharmacological Society

Go to Society Site

< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >

Save Article to My Profile Download Citation Request Permissions

Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 68K) | Related Articles | Citation Tracking

Birth outcome following maternal use of metoclopramide

Henrik Toft Sørensen, ¹ ^,3 Gunnar Lauge Nielsen, ² Kaare Christensen, ⁴ Ulrik Tage‐jensen, ² and ers Ekbom, ⁵ John Baron ⁶ & the Euromap study group*

¹ Department of Internal Medicine V, Aarhus University Hospital, DK − 8000 Aarhus C, ² Department of Internal Medicine M, Aalborg Hospital,DK − 9000 Aalborg, ³ The Danish Epidemiology Science Centre at the Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Aarhus,DK − 8000 Aarhus C, ⁴ Odense University Medical School, Winslowparken 17, DK − 5000 Odense, ⁵ Department of Medical Epidemiology, Karolinska Institute, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden and ⁶ Department of Medicine and Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School. Hanover, 03755–3861, NH, USA

Correspondence: Dr Henrik Toft Sørensen, The Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, DK − 8000 Aarhus C., Denmark. Tel.: + 45 89 42 60 77, fax: + 45 89 42 61 03, e‐mail: hts@soci.au.dk

*EUROMAP: Project management group: Henrik Toft Sørensen, Jørn Olsen, Andrew Czeizel, Gunnar Lauge Nielsen, Lolkje De Jong van den Berg, Lorentz Irgens, Ulf Bergman. Other members of the study group: Charlotte Olesen, Flemming Hald Steffensen, Lars Pedersen, Rolv T. Lie, Corrine de Vries, Patrick Leurquin.

KEYWORDS

metoclopramide • birth outcome • pregnancy

ABSTRACT

Aims Metoclopramide is an antiemetic drug used widely during pregnancy for nausea and vomiting. Because of its frequent use any adverse effects on infant health would have major public health implications. We therefore examined the safety of metoclopramide during pregnancy.

Methods Using the Pharmaco‐Epidemiological Prescription Database of North Jutland County, we identified 309 women with singleton pregnancies who had prescriptions for metoclopramide fom 1 January 1991 to 31 December 1996. Information on malformations, birth weight, preterm deliveries and stillbirth were compared with 13 327 references who did not receive prescriptions of any kind during pregnancy.

Results Mean birth weight among exposed women was 3480 g compared with 3470 g among nonexposed. Based on logistic regression models no major differences in the risk were found concerning malformations (OR= 1.11; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.6–2.1); low birth weight (OR= 1.79; 95% CI: 0.8–3.9) or preterm delivery (OR= 1.02; 95 CI: 0.6–1.7).

Conclusions We could not document any association between the use of metoclopramide during pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcome. Because of the limited power of our study further research is required.

Received 31 March 1999, accepted 16 November 1999.

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1046/j.1365-2125.2000.00127.x About DOI