Commonly Prescribed Drug Linked to Birth Defects

A study looking at the effects of a widely prescribed diabetes drug has linked it to an increased risk of birth defects.

The study found that men who took a common diabetes drug within three months of conception were more likely to have children with birth defects.

The study that analyzed more than a million births in the country between 1997 and 2016 did not get into specifics about what kind of defects occur.

The researchers found that the rate of genital birth defects in children born to fathers with Type 2 Diabetes was 3.1 percent, but the rate increased to 4.5 percent for babies whose fathers took the drug during the three months prior to conception.

The study focused on babies born to women under the age of 35 who did not have diabetes and men under the age of 40 who did not have diabetes.

Along with looking at men who take metformin for their diabetes, researchers also focused on men who took insulin for diabetes as well and found it wasn't correlated with genital birth defects in the same way as metformin.

The researchers found that men who took the drug before conception weren't more likely to have children with birth defects.

Studies like this one are meant to establish a correlation with the intention of future studies, and the authors acknowledged that information on underlying disease status was limited.

Experts say that patients should leave up to their doctors if the finding affects the medication they are taking.

Metformin is cheap and safe to the person who is taking it. Those are important factors to consider when making a decision about whether or not to take a drug.

For now, these findings should highlight how important neonatal care is for both men and women.

Anti-diabetic drugs in men and birth defects in offspring are some of the topics discussed in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

There are more on scary birth defects.

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