Asthma medication use in pregnancy ‘does not impair neurodevelopment in kids’
Corticosteroids and beta2 agonists are safe to use during pregnancy to manage asthma, say Japanese researchers who found no major impact of anti-asthmatic exposure on child neurodevelopment.
Their cohort study of 91,000 mother–infant pairs suggests in-utero exposure to either drug class does not affect development of communication, problem-solving, or fine and gross motor skills in the first three years of life.
The Osaka University-led team compared outcomes between 1904 infants with corticosteroid exposure and 748 with beta2 agonist exposure during early, mid-to-late or both stages of pregnancy to unexposed infants.
Overall, oral or inhaled corticosteroid use was not associated with delays to any neurodevelopmental milestone up to three years of age “regardless of the timing of exposure”, the authors said.
