Maternal Statin Use and Risk for Birth Defects

Paul S. Mueller, MD, MPH, FACP reviewing Bateman BT et al. BMJ 2015 Mar 17.

Statin use in early pregnancy did not confer excess risk for congenital malformations.

Statins generally are contraindicated during pregnancy because of animal-study data and other theoretical concerns about teratogenic potential. In this study, U.S. investigators used Medicaid data (2000–2007) to assess risk for congenital malformations with maternal statin use in nearly 890,000 pregnancies linked to live-born infants.

A total of 1152 (0.13%) women were prescribed statins during their first trimester of pregnancy. Using propensity score–based methods to control for potential confounders, the researchers matched women who did and did not use statins during the first trimester in a 1:3 ratio. In fully adjusted analyses, risk for congenital malformations was no higher among infants whose mothers used statins than among those whose mothers did not; likewise, maternal statin use was not associated with elevated risk for organ-specific malformations.

Citation(s):

Bateman BT et al. Statins and congenital malformations: Cohort study. BMJ 2015 Mar 17; 350:h1035.