Child control of essential asthma during pregnancy but not entirely without risk to the child

Control of asthma in pregnant women is essential for reducing the risk of complications for the unborn child, but does not remove them completely, confirm two études.Les evidence suggests that it is generally safer for Pregnant women with asthma to take drugs to have asthma exacerbations due to potential complications both maternal (pre-eclampsia, pregnancy-induced hypertension, preeclampsia, placental abruption) and fetal (delayed intrauterine growth, prematurity, fetal distress and perinatal mortality).

Two studies presented at the International Congress of Pharmacoepidemiology and Therapeutic Risk Management, held in Quebec tend to confirm the importance of controlling asthma during pregnancy.

Faranak Firoozi of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Montreal and his colleagues analyzed three databases on 40,893 pregnancies conducted between 1990 and 2002 in Quebec including 13,040 were women with asthma (31.9%).

The disease was considered to be controlled in 64.1% of patients, that is to say they did not use oral steroids for short, had not needed to go to the emergency room or n have not been hospitalized for an exacerbation and consumed only low doses of bronchodilator short duration of action.

The adjusted analysis of the data indicates that the risk of premature birth or low birth weight was not greater in women whose asthma was not checked against those whose disease was.

However, poor control of asthma was associated with an increased risk for the child to be small for gestational age (SGA), by 17% compared to well-controlled disease.

It also appears that despite well-controlled symptoms, asthma is associated with more complications for the child, the risk of SGA increased by 29% compared to non-asthmatic women, premature birth by 56% and low birthweight Birth to 59%.

In another study, Dr. Laila Tata University of Nottingham and his colleagues wanted to see if the asthma treatments administered during pregnancy with no risk to the fetus.

For this, they conducted a study of 5,124 children born with birth defects and 30,053 matched controlsAccording to the analysis, it appears a slight overall significant excess risk of birth defects in children born to asthmatic mothers, 10% higher compared to children whose mother is not asthmatic.

However, the risk is no longer significant when the analysis is restricted to mothers receiving asthma treatment in the year before pregnancy or during pregnancy by taking the treatment as a whole.

By examining the different drugs administered during pregnancy, the authors found a 20% increase in the risk of malformations of the circulatory system of the child when mothers were treated with bronchodilators and short-acting corticosteroid and an increase 25% of the risk of malformations of the musculoskeletal system with exposure to cromones.