JAMA Psychiatry
Benzodiazepine use during pregnancy linked to increased risk of miscarriage
Benzodiazepine use during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of miscarriage after accounting for measurable confounders, and results were unlikely to be due to unmeasured confounding. Findings emphasize the need to meticulously balance the risk-benefit ratio when considering use of benzodiazepines to treat psychiatric and sleep disorders in pregnant patients.
- This nationwide, population-based case-time-control study used Taiwan’s National Birth Certificate Application database and the National Health Insurance database and comprised 3,067,122 pregnancies among 1, 957,601 women, 136,134 of which (4.4%) resulted in miscarriage.
- Benzodiazepines use during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of miscarriage (odds ratio [OR], 1.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.52-1.87), and findings were consistent across multiple sensitivity analyses considering various time windows and accounting for misclassification.
- In subgroup analyses, a higher risk of miscarriage was associated with each commonly used individual benzodiazepine, ranging from case-time-control ORs of 1.39 (95% CI, 1.17-1.66) for alprazolam to 2.52 (95% CI, 1.89-3.36) for fludiazepam.
Source:
Meng, LC, et al. (2023, December 27). JAMA Psychiatry. Benzodiazepine Use During Pregnancy and Risk of Miscarriage. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38150230/