As if the idea of growing a tiny human inside your body isn't daunting enough, a new study released today from the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that some common antibiotics actually increase the risk of having a miscarriage.Researchers from the Université de Montréal in Canada analyzed data from the Quebec Pregnancy Cohort, a collection of data on all pregnancies of women covered by the Quebec Public Prescription Drug Insurance Plan, from 1998 to 2009. The cases in the study, totaling more than 95,000, featured women who were between the ages of 15 and 45; of the sample, 8,702 pregnancies were determined to have ended in miscarriage before the 20th week of gestation.Researchers considered antibiotic exposure as having at least one prescription during the gestation period, and they focused on several common classes: cephalosporins, macrolides, penicillins, quinolones, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, other antibacterials, antiprotozoals and urinary anti-infectives.Read more: For Trans Men, Reproductive Health Is Yet Another Obstacle to OvercomeA total of 1,428 cases (16 percent) were exposed to antibiotics in early pregnancy. A large number of those women (560) were prescribed penicillin and cephalosporins, both of which have a long history of research proving its safety. Additionally, researchers noted that "women with spontaneous abortion were more likely to be older, to be living alone, and to have comorbidities and infections," the study states.After adjusting for a number of factors, the study found that the "use of macrolides (excluding erythromycin), quinolones, tetracyclines, sulfonamides and metronidazole during early pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of spontaneous abortion," the study states. In the cases of azithromycin and clarithromycin (both macrolides), the risk of spontaneous abortion increased by 65 percent and twofold, respectively, which was consistent with findings in previous studies.Finish reading this article on Broadly.
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