Infliximab Does Not Adversely Affect Pregnancy Outcomes

January 17, 2005

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Jan 12 - Pregnancy outcomes in women taking

infliximab for rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's disease do not appear to

differ from those of other women, according to a report in the December

issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

Though animal studies have not suggested an association of infliximab with

maternal toxicity, embryotoxicity, or teratogenicity, the authors explain,

no pregnancy studies have been conducted in humans.

Dr. Jeffry A. Katz from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio and

colleagues compared pregnancy outcomes in women exposed to infliximab with

those in women in the U.S. general population and women with Crohn's disease

not exposed to infliximab.

About one third of the women exposed to infliximab received it during the

first trimester of pregnancy, the authors report. Three quarters of the

women were also receiving other medications.

Among 64 live births out of 96 pregnancies, 5 were delivered with some

complications. According to the results, there were also 14 miscarriages,

one intrauterine death at 19.5 weeks, and one stillbirth at 27 weeks of

gestation.

Eighteen of the pregnancies were terminated, the researchers note, but there

were no major or minor congenital abnormalities in the terminated fetuses.

Pregnancy outcomes did not differ significantly from those for the general

Caucasian population of the United States or from those reported for

patients with Crohn's disease who were not treated with infliximab, the

results indicate.

" A logical extension of these results would be the intentional use of

infliximab during pregnancy to control rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's

disease which has flared during pregnancy, " the authors add. " Based on the

limited information available to date, this strategy is not recommended. "

Am J Gastroenterol 2004;99:2385-2392.

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