Objectives: To study the possible association of common dyspepsia including heartburn and gastro-esophageal reflux disease and its related drug treatments in pregnant women with congenital anomalies (CAs) in their offspring.
Design: Comparison of cases affected with different CAs and matched controls without defects in a ratio of 1:2 born to mothers affected with severe chronic dyspepsia in early pregnancy.
Setting: Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance System of Congenital Abnormalities.
Population: CAs were evaluated in informative offspring: live-born infants, stillborn fetuses, and malformed fetuses after prenatal diagnosis followed by elective termination of pregnancy in the population-based Hungarian material.
Methods: Prospectively and medically recorded severe chronic dyspepsia recorded in the prenatal maternity logbook was compared among women who later delivered babies with different CAs (cases) and matched women who delivered newborns without any defect (controls).
Main outcome measures: Different CAs, gestational age and birthweight, rates of preterm birth, and low birthweight newborns.
Results: Of 22,843 cases with CAs, 148 (0.65%) had mothers with severe chronic dyspepsia, compared to 214 (0.56%) of 38,151 controls (adjusted OR with 95% CI = 1.2, 0.9-1.4). Specific groups of CAs assessed vs. controls showed that only isolated rectal/anal atresia/stenosis was associated with a higher risk of severe maternal dyspepsia in early pregnancy (adjusted OR with 95% CI: 4.3, 1.7-10.5).
Conclusions: Severe chronic dyspepsia in early pregnancy and drug treatment for this was not associated with a higher risk of CAs, except possibly isolated rectal/anal atresia/stenosis.