Epidemiology
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Multicenter Study
Use of oral contraceptives in pregnancy and major structural birth defects in offspring.
Oral contraceptives (OCs) are the most commonly used reversible contraceptive method among US women. Although the majority of previous studies have reported no association between OC use during pregnancy and birth defects, some studies have reported increased occurrence of neural tube defects, limb reduction defects, and urinary tract anomalies. ⋯ Previous reports of associations between OC use and specific types of anomalies were not corroborated. Given that associations were assessed for 32 types of birth defects, our findings of 2 increased associations between OC use and gastroschisis and hypoplastic left heart syndrome should be interpreted as hypotheses until they can be evaluated further. Overall, our findings are consistent with the majority of previous studies that found women who use OCs during early pregnancy have no increased risk for most types of major congenital malformations.