Pregnancy complication and outcome in women with history of allergy to medicinal agents

Problem: Pregnancy outcome in women with a previous history of drug allergy and the role of drug allergies in adverse pregnancy outcomes is unclear. Method of study: A retrospective cohort study comparing pregnancies of women with and without history of drug allergy was conducted. Data were collected from the computerized perinatal database. A multiple logistic regression model, with background elimination, was constructed to control for confounders. Results: Of 186,443 deliveries, 4.6% (n = 8647) occurred in patients with a history of drug allergy. The following conditions were significantly associated with a history of drug allergy: advanced maternal age, recurrent abortions, fertility treatments, hypertensive disorders, and diabetes mellitus. Using multivariate analysis, with background elimination, history of drug allergy was significantly associated with intrauterine growth restriction (OR = 1.52, CI = 1.3-0.8, P < 0.001) and with preterm delivery (OR = 1.26, CI = 1.14-1.38, P < 0.001). Conclusion: A history of drug allergy is an independent risk factor for intrauterine growth restriction and preterm delivery. Further prospective studies are needed to investigate the nature of this association.