Medication Safe for Pregnant Women

A Swedish study has found that asthma therapy with the inhaled corticosteroid budesonide had no negative effects on the outcome of pregnancy. The study results were published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (April 2003).

Using data from the Swedish Medical Birth Register, Ensio Norjavaara, MD, PhD, at G?teborg Pediatric Growth Research Centre, and colleagues compared mothers using asthma medications with those who did not. Among the mothers who reported taking asthma medication during pregnancy:

? 7719 used asthma medications other than inhaled or oral cor-ticosteroids

? 3364 used only inhaled corticosteroids

? 2968 used budesonide, 207 throughout the pregnancy

? 103 used both budesonide and an oral corticosteroid

The researchers discovered that the mothers taking budes-onide to control their asthma gave birth to babies of normal gestational age, birth weight, and length. Also, there was no increase in the rate of stillbirths or multiple births.