Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They enable our users
to debate issues raised in articles published on bmj.com. A rapid response
is first posted online. If you need the URL (web address) of an individual
response, simply click on the response headline and copy the URL from the
browser window. A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published
online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed.
Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed and they are not journal articles.
The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being
wilfully misrepresented as published articles or when it is brought to our
attention that a response spreads misinformation.
From March 2022, the word limit for rapid responses will be 600 words not
including references and author details. We will no longer post responses
that exceed this limit.
The word limit for letters selected from posted responses remains 300 words.
I agree with Dr. Janet D Cragan that determining the ill effects of medications on the growing foetus during pregnancy is really challenging as while medication use overall is common, use of individual medications is rare. Also, as she said, ethical issues often rule out premarketing clinical trials of the safety of medications for pregnant women and their unborn babies1.
Actually, the outcomes are having so many factors responsible that it is their confounding that has to be ruled out. For instance, the birthweight of a baby may be low because of maternal undernutrition or obstetric problems e,g, Pre-eclampsia or a medical problem in the mother such as chronic diseases like TB or heart disease, so we have to take only healthy subjects with no complications. Since the no. of individual medications is very low it has to be a multicentric registry.
Medication use during pregnancy: There is a need for multicentric registry.
I agree with Dr. Janet D Cragan that determining the ill effects of medications on the growing foetus during pregnancy is really challenging as while medication use overall is common, use of individual medications is rare. Also, as she said, ethical issues often rule out premarketing clinical trials of the safety of medications for pregnant women and their unborn babies1.
Actually, the outcomes are having so many factors responsible that it is their confounding that has to be ruled out. For instance, the birthweight of a baby may be low because of maternal undernutrition or obstetric problems e,g, Pre-eclampsia or a medical problem in the mother such as chronic diseases like TB or heart disease, so we have to take only healthy subjects with no complications. Since the no. of individual medications is very low it has to be a multicentric registry.
References:
1. BMJ 2014;349:g5252
Competing interests: No competing interests