EXOGENOUS HORMONES AND OTHER DRUG EXPOSURES OF CHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE

A history of oral contraceptive use, hormonal pregnancy tests, prescribed hormones and other drugs was obtained from 390 mothers of infants with congenital heart disease and 1254 mothers of normal infants in Massachusetts. The data show a small positive association between estrogen/ progesterone exposure and cardiac malformation, the prevalence ratio estimate of exposed to non-exposed being 1.5 (90 per cent confidence limits are 1.0, 2.1). No association was evident, however, between hormones and trunco-conal or any other class of defect among the cases, an observation which casts doubt on a causal relationship between hormones and cardiovascular malformations. Several other drugs were reported more frequently by cases' mothers. These include: ampiclllin; aspirin; a combined anti-nausea agent (doxylamine succinate, dicyciomine hydrochloride and pyridoxine hydrochloride); chlordiazopoxide; codeine; diazepam; diphenylhydantoin; insulin; phenobarbital; phenothiazine; phenylephrine; and tetracycline.