Hormonal Pregnancy Tests and Congenital Malformation

Abstract

DURING a survey of babies born with meningomyelocele or hydrocephalus, one hundred mothers of such children provided histories of the relevant pregnancy. Among other things they were questioned by one of us (I. G.) as to the drugs which they had taken. The same information was obtained from a matched control group of one hundred mothers recently delivered of healthy babies. Data obtained from the mothers about drugs during pregnancy were checked with the medical advisers. As part of the survey the mothers were asked how their pregnancy was diagnosed. Nineteen mothers in the survey group and four of the control mothers reported having received oral tablets for the diagnosis of pregnancy (Table 1). There was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to any other drugs taken in the first trimester. The average interval between conception and test was 5.6 weeks in the survey group, and 6.2 weeks in the control group.