The use of data set of the Hungarian case-control surveillance of congenital abnormalities for evaluation of birth outcomes beyond birth defects

AIMS: To use the data set of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities (HCCSCA) for the evaluation of birth outcomes beyond congenital abnormalities and to show as example the study of 49 antimicrobial drugs used in Hungary for the reduction of preterm births. METHODS: The population-based data set of the Hungarian Case-Control Surveillance of Congenital Abnormalities, 1980-1996, included 38,151 newborn infants without birth defects and this sample represented 1.8% of Hungarian births. Medically recorded gestational age at delivery and birthweight, in addition the rate of preterm births and low birthweight newborns born to mothers with or without different antimicrobial drugs used at least by ten pregnant women were analysed. RESULTS: Of 49 antimicrobial drugs, two: ampicillin (adjusted POR with 95% CI: 0.8, 0.7-0.9) and clotrimazole (0.8, 0.7-0.9) showed a preterm birth preventive effect. This preterm preventive effect was found mainly after the use of ampicillin and clotrimazole during the first trimester of pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Ampicillin and clotrimazole may be effective for the reduction of preterm births due to infectious diseases of pregnant women in general but particularly caused by genital infections. However, the limitation of the data set did not allow the appropriate evaluation of some antimicrobial drugs (e.g. clindamycin).