Statins increase the risk of birth defects, miscarriage and premature birth

This study was published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2012 Nov 30

 

Study title and authors:

Pregnancy outcome following maternal exposure to statins: a multicentre prospective study.

Winterfeld U, Allignol A, Panchaud A, Rothuizen L, Merlob P, Cuppers-Maarschalkerweerd B, Vial T, Stephens S, Clementi M, De Santis M, Pistelli A, Berlin M, Eleftheriou G, Maňáková E, Buclin T.

STIS and Division of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.

 

This study can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23194157

The objective of the study was to investigate the risk associated with exposure to statins during pregnancy. The study collected observations from 249 statin-exposed pregnancies and 249 women not taking statins.

The study found:
(a) The statin-exposed women had a 50% increased risk of having a child with a major birth defect compared to the women not taking statins.
(b) The statin-exposed women had a 36% increased risk of having a miscarriage compared to the women not taking statins.
(c) The statin-exposed women had a 110% increased risk of having a premature birth compared to the women not taking statins.

The data from the study shows that statins increase the risk of birth defects, miscarriage and premature birth.