Risk of pre-term births and major birth defects resulting from paternal intake of COVID-19 medications prior to conception.

Abstract

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, large numbers of people will receive one of the several medications proposed to treat COVID-19, including patients of reproductive age. Given that some medications have shown adverse effects on sperm quality, there might be a transgenerational concern. We aim at examining the association between drugs proposed to treat COVID-19 when taken by the father around conception and any pre-term birth or major birth defects in offspring in a nation-wide cohort study using Danish registry data. Offspring whose father filled at least one prescription of the following medications in the three months preceding conception were considered exposed: chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, losartan, azithromycin, naproxen, dexamethasone and prednisone.For azithromycin and naproxen, large numbers of offspring were exposed (>?1800 offspring), and we found no association with adverse birth outcomes. For chloroquine, losartan and dexamethasone, exposure was intermediate (~?900 offspring), and there was no statistically significant association with birth defects. For hydroxychloroquine and prednisone, exposure was limited (

View details for DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-59420/v1

View details for PubMedID 32869015

View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7457584