New research has indicated that pregnant women who take ibuprofen in the first six months of their pregnancy may be damaging their daughters’ future fertility.
According to the Journal of Human Reproduction, women who take Ibuprofen in the first 24 weeks of their pregnancy may find a reduction in the number of eggs stored in their daughters’ ovaries, according to the studies done.
The over-the-counter drug is widely used to treat pain, inflammation and fever, and research suggests that over an estimated 30 per cent of women are said to use it during the first three months of pregnancy.
Current NHS guidelines advise not to take it while pregnant. "Pregnant women are generally advised to avoid taking ibuprofen. Paracetamol is recommended as a safer choice when you’re pregnant," they write on their website. "Ibuprofen shouldn't be used when you’re 30 or more weeks pregnant, unless it’s on the advice of a doctor."
French researchers have found evidence in human ovarian tissue that exposure to ibuprofen during the first three months of foetal development results in a “dramatic loss” of the germ cells that go into making the follicles from which female eggs develop.
With the mothers’ consent, the team of scientists obtained human foetuses between seven and 12 weeks of development from legally-induced terminations of pregnancy, then growing the ovarian tissue in the lab to find out what effects the drug would have. The researchers measured the quantity of ibuprofen in the blood of the umbilical cord in order to analyse how much the foetus would have been exposed to.
"We found there were fewer cells growing and dividing, more cells dying and a dramatic loss of germ cell numbers, regardless of the gestational age of the foetus,” Dr Mazaud-Guittot said.
“There were significant effects after seven days of exposure . . . and we saw cell death as early as after two days of treatment. Five days after withdrawing ibuprofen, these harmful effects of ibuprofen were not fully reversed.”
“The wisest advice would be to follow currently accepted recommendations: paracetamol should be preferred to any anti-inflammatory drug up to 24 gestational weeks, and the letter should not be used thereafter,” Mazaud-Guittot said.
“However, practitioners, midwives and obstetricians are best placed to give expert advice: every mother and every pregnancy is unique.”
Read more about the study HERE
