Can painkiller use in pregnancy cause problems in baby boys?

Scientists from Denmark, Finland and France found that women who either took a combination of mild analgesics during pregnancy or took them during the second trimester of pregnancy had a greater risk of giving birth to baby boys with undescended testicles, a condition known as cryptorchidism, which may forecast poor semen quality and testicular cancer. […]

Scientists from Denmark, Finland and France found that women who either took a combination of mild analgesics during pregnancy or took them during the second trimester of pregnancy had a greater risk of giving birth to baby boys with undescended testicles, a condition known as cryptorchidism, which may forecast poor semen quality and testicular cancer. The report continued: “Specifically, the researchers found that women who used more than one painkiller at the same time had a seven-fold increased risk of having sons with some form of cryptorchidism in comparison with women who took no analgesics. In the second trimester, any painkiller use more than doubled the risk of cryptorchidism, and simultaneous painkiller use increased the risk 16-fold.”

The scientists also pointed to work conducted on rats by two of the researchers who found that analgesics toyed with androgen production and led to decreased levels of testosterone when male fetal organs were forming. Researchers aren’t sure why that happens.

Taking painkillers presents more of a risk than known endocrine disruptors such as phthalates, say the researchers. Perhaps, they posit, painkiller use on top of exposure to phthalates could be associated with the increase in cryptorchidism. One 500-mg tablet of Ibuprofen, says one of the experts, will, “for most women, be at least a doubling of the exposure to the known endocrine disruptors during the pregnancy and that dose comes on a single day, not spread out over nine months as with the environmental endocrine disruptors.”

In the report, Virginia Lupo, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, cautioned against jumping to conclusions. “You’re looking at 13 women who took pain meds in the second trimester and had a son with this problem,” says Lupo. “This is not nearly enough data to say that women should avoid mild pain relievers in the second trimester.”

Also, Dr. C. U. Undie, an Abuja-based doctor, said most drugs are dangerous to a pregnant woman anyway. “Some could be very hazardous for a pregnant woman and that is why expectant mothers should stay away from taking drugs that are not prescribed to them.”

To reach their conclusions, researchers studied 834 pregnant women in Denmark and 1,463 in Finland, who either answered written questionnaires about their use of medication during pregnancy and/or responded to a telephone interview. Interestingly, the data revealed that women under-reported their use of painkillers in the written questionnaire: of the 298 Danish moms who responded via questionnaire and phone interview, 31% reported using painkillers in the questionnaire while 57% reported that in the interview.

What’s clear, say the European researchers, is that more study is needed. In the meantime, they advise pregnant women to cut back on the analgesics and talk to their doctors and in general follow the advice to use as little medicine during pregnancy as possible. Undie added that some painkillers are dangerous and very toxic for a pregnant woman, which could result in malformation of the foetus. “That is why we restrict them to paracetamol, which has no side-effects.” Another alternative to painkillers, Dr. Undie said, is physiotherapy to relieve stress or pain, rather than drugs to be taken orally.