Women not counseled on drug birth defects

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Prescription medications may increase the risk of birth defects if used by women in their childbearing years, but only half of U.S. women receive counseling.

First study author Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that over the course of a year, one in six U.S. women of reproductive age filled a prescription for a medication labeled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as increasing the risk of fetal abnormalities.

"Unfortunately, many women filling prescriptions that can increase risk of birth defects remain at risk of pregnancy," Schwarz said in a statement.

Schwarz and colleagues studied patient data related to all prescriptions filled by 488,175 reproductive-aged women enrolled with a large managed healthcare plan during 2001. Prescriptions involved drugs considered safe for use in pregnancy and those labeled as posing a fetal risk.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, also found about half of the women in the study had received contraceptive counseling -- to ensure that would not get pregnant while on the medication.