Health · Medical Research · 4 hrs ago
Migraine drug exposure linked to 40% higher miscarriage risk in study
Researchers studied 7,579 pregnancies in a US insurance database, focusing on people with migraine diagnoses or records of certain migraine medicines.
They found that exposure to anti-CGRP drugs, a newer class of migraine treatments, was associated with a 40% higher chance of miscarriage in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The comparison was with periods when people were not exposed to the drugs.
Propranolol, another medicine examined, was not associated with a higher risk.
The study cannot show that the anti-CGRP drugs caused the miscarriages, and the researchers say other factors, including severe migraines, may play a role.
The records did not show whether patients took their prescribed medicines or how severe their migraines were, and they came from commercially insured people in the United States.
The researchers say more studies are needed to assess pregnancy safety, and people considering pregnancy should discuss migraine treatment with a doctor before changing medicines.
A study found that exposure to anti-CGRP migraine drugs during pregnancy was associated with about a 40 percent higher chance of miscarriage.
The observational study analyzed the first 20 weeks of 7,579 pregnancies.
Propranolol exposure was not associated with an increased miscarriage risk.
The findings do not show that the drugs cause miscarriage, and the researchers said more research is needed.
The authors advised clinicians to consider the limited pregnancy-safety evidence when discussing treatment with people who may become pregnant.
- Who
- Researchers led by epidemiologist Anick Bérard studied pregnancies among people with migraine.
- What
- Exposure to anti-CGRP monoclonal antibodies was associated with about a 40 percent higher chance of miscarriage.
- When
- The study examined the first 20 weeks of pregnancies, using records from 2018 to 2021.
- Where
- The data came from a commercially insured US population.
- Why
- The study examined pregnancy safety amid increasing use of anti-CGRP drugs for migraine prevention. It cannot establish that the drugs cause miscarriage.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
A new class of injected medications was approved for migraine treatment.
The researchers used health-insurance records from this period to analyze pregnancy outcomes.
ScienceAlert reported on the study published in JAMA Neurology.
- Pregnancies analyzed
- 7,579
- Study period
- First 20 weeks of pregnancy
- Miscarriage risk
- About 40 percent higher with anti-CGRP mAb exposure
- Data source
- Commercially insured US population
- Drugs examined
- Erenumab, fremanezumab, galcanezumab and eptinezumab
What people are saying
Anti-CGRP monoclonal antibody exposure was associated with an increased risk of spontaneous abortion compared with unexposed person-time, while propranolol exposure was not
Given the increasing use of anti-CGRP mAbs for migraine prevention among individuals of reproductive age, further research is needed to evaluate their safety during pregnancy, including studies examining spontaneous abortion, fetal outcomes, and longer-term offspring outcomes
Sources
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