1043-3155 Pediatr Neurol Briefs pedneurbriefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs Pediatric Neurology Briefs Pediatr Neurol Briefs 2166-6482 1043-3155 2166-3155 Pediatric Neurology Briefs Publishers Chicago, IL, USA PNB-4-36-b 10.15844/pedneurbriefs-4-5-6 Toxic Disorders Neurology Pediatrics Nervous System Diseases Child Development Brain Diseases Neurosurgery Child Infant Benzodiazepine-Induced Congenital Malformations http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0173-7931 Millichap J. Gordon MD 1 2 * Division of Neurology, Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL Correspondence: Dr. J. Gordon Millichap, E-mail: jgmillichap@northwestern.edu 05 1990 01 08 2016 4 5 36 37 Copyright: © 1990 The Author(s) 1990 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Congenital malformations and maternal consumption of benzodiazepines: a case-control study

The potential teratogenic properties of benzodiazepine (BZD) intake during early pregnancy were investigated at the Departments of Pediatrics, Pathology and Genetics at Goteborg University, Sweden.

 Benzodiazepine Congenital Malformations Maternal Plasma

The potential teratogenic properties of benzodiazepine (BZD) intake during early pregnancy were investigated at the Departments of Pediatrics, Pathology and Genetics at Goteborg University, Sweden. Four neonatal diagnoses of congenital malformations known to be characteristic of infants born to mothers with excessive intake of BZD in early pregnancy were present in 25 of 10,646 live born infants (2.3/1,000) delivered by mothers living in the city of Gothenburg in 1985 and 1986. The maternal plasma was analyzed in 18 of these cases 1.2 to 1.5 years after the birth of the probands; eight samples (44%) were BZD positive. Of 60 controls, two maternal blood samples (3%) were positive for BZD. The difference was highly significant and suggests an association between the congenital malformation and BZD consumed during early gestation. [1]

COMMENT. The diagnoses considered to be specific for BZD-induced congenital malformations were embryopathy and fetopathy, nervous system malformations, cleft lip and cleft palate, congenital malformations of the urinary tract. The authors considered that their findings strengthened the hypothesis that BZD intake during early pregnancy is associated with teratogenicity in man but there is as yet no firm proof of association. Diazepam in early pregnancy should be avoided on the basis of this and other studies which strongly suggest a teratogenic effect of BZD.

 Laegreid L Olegård R Conradi N Hagberg G Wahlström J Abrahamsson L Congenital malformations and maternal consumption of benzodiazepines: a case-control study Dev Med Child Neurol 1990 May 32 5 432 441 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1990.tb16962.x 1972364