BMJ 2001;322:1365 ( 2 June )

Letters

Risk of miscarriage in pregnant users of NSAIDs

    More information is needed to be able to interpret study's results
    Miscarriages also occur in women intending to have induced abortions
    Authors' reply

More information is needed to be able to interpret study's results

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR---Nielsen et al found that the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in early pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of miscarriage but not with congenital abnormality, low birth weight, or preterm delivery.1 Unfortunately, the study has several deficiencies that make interpretation of the results difficult.

Firstly, the study was based on the Danish birth registry and the prescription database; the clinical information available was limited, and a random sample confirmed the prescription in only 71% of the pregnancies. Although the authors state that the data had high validity, Kristensen et al reported that the birth registry under-reported the incidence of preterm delivery by over 50%.2

Secondly, in assessing the risk of miscarriage the authors stratified the study group according to the time between the prescription of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and the date of discharge from hospital after miscarriage. How the control group was stratified is not clear. . . . [Full text of this article]
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Relevant Article

Risk of adverse birth outcome and miscarriage in pregnant users of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: population based observational study and case-control study
Gunnar Lauge Nielsen, Henrik Toft Sørensen, Helle Larsen, and Lars Pedersen
BMJ 2001 322: 266-270. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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