Clotrimazole Therapy Safe During Pregnancy

The teratogenic risk of clotrimazole use, an over-the-counter antifungal agent used for vaginal candidiasis, during pregnancy has not been previously determined. These investigators used the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities to study this question. Reporting of malformed fetuses and stillborn and liveborn infants is compulsory in Hungary as are autopsies for infant deaths. Investigators identified 18,515 pregnancies with congenital abnormalities and 32,804 control pregnancies. Medication use was assessed through a mailed questionnaire and nonrespondents were visited for follow-up, resulting in an 81% response rate for cases and 67% for controls.

The overall exposure to any vaginal or topical formulation of clotr…