Hypertension Drugs Linked to Birth Defects

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Fellow blogger Denise Rubin in NY talks about the recent announcement that ACE inhibitors have been linked to birth defects in the first trimester of pregnancy, specifically problems with fetal skull development, kidney problems and growth inhibition.

ACE inhibitors such as catopril and lisinopril are prescribed to treat hypertension and are popular medications used for kidney protection in people with diabetes.

Denise notes that:

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 30 percent of fetuses are affected. Physicians have been aware for some time about long-understood hazards in the second or third trimester, and the prescribing information for these drugs warns doctors not to prescribe them for pregnant women and to stop them right away if a woman becomes pregnant.