clomid and birth defects?

is it true that clomid raises your chances of having a baby with birth defects?

[Helen72]

Nope, it's not true.  My doc told me that chances of birth defects as well as of miscarriage are the same for clomid users as they are for everyone else.

[mlb1234]

actually  there is a higher rate of birth defects with clomid but it is still very small, and not much higher than the general population.  what they don't know if whether this increase is actually due to the clomid itself or due to the infertility.  You can read about this in a myriad of medical journals on medline which is what I have done.  The increase is so slight (maybe 1% in general population compared to 3% with clomid, can't remember exactly) that I don't think it would stop many women who are having problems conceiving from trying it.  It has been used since the 1960's and if the risk was very great they would have pulled it from the shelves a long time ago!!

[amy1972]

I have a child with multiple birth defects after taking Clomid.  I do not think it was coincidental that I have also met other parents in the hospital setting that also have children with defects after taking  Clomid.  I am no scientist but I think there is a correlation.  I only wish I had known this before I took the drug.  I love my son and would not trade him for the world but drug companies can manipulate study results to look favorable for them and that is not fair to the consumer.

[babyalive]

My clinic says there is no research that supports the idea that Clomid causes birth defects.  It's out of your system before implantation.

[TerenceMix]

A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that Clomid (clomiphene citrate) has been found to be associated with an increased risk for 9 different types of birth defects. On November 26, 2010, the medical journal, “Human Reproduction,” published online the results of the study on the popular fertility drug. The implicated abnormalities included anencephaly (open cranium with absence of a brain), esophageal atresia (closed esophagus), omphalocele (protrusion of part of the intestine through the abdominal wall), craniosynostosis (premature fusion of the skull bones), 3 different types of heart defects and a defect of the brain (Dandy Walker malformation). The ninth defect (cloacal exstrophy) involves multiple defects of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts.

After taking into account such factors as maternal age, history of prior miscarriages, smoking, use of alcohol and obesity, the epidemiologists found increased risks ranging from 60% for septal heart defects to 440% for cloacal exstrophy. Drawing on 8 years of data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, Dr. Jennita Reefhuis and her colleagues compared the drug’s exposure to 36 types of birth defects with those of 6,500 live born babies born without major birth anomalies, used as controls. No less than 22 of the remaining 27 birth defect categories likewise showed an increased risk, ranging from 10% up to 170% after exposure to Clomid, although the numbers were insufficient to reach the scientific standard for "statistical significance."

The preliminary results of this study were first reported by CDC at the annual convention of the Teratology Society on July 2, 2008. This study thus should not come as a surprise to the FDA, which has been sitting this and other published studies for years. Having researched the subject for decades, I can assure that there are numerous studies reporting an increased risk of birth defects following the use of clomiphene. The drug also has a long half-life and studies have shown it to remain in the system for up to 54 days after ingestion. Perhaps now the FDA will finally take some action to require a warning on the drug's labeling.

[nat559]

  Chlomid does cause birth defect, I took 100mg  and got pregnant on the second cycle.  At my 12 month  appointment , we found out that  our baby had a radial club hand( missing  a bone in the forearm). After going from doctors to doctors , performing testing as  she could very well had  VACTERL association due to her limb problem , 6 weeks later we were forced to terminate the pregnancy(at 18 weeks) . There were too many risk of other unknown problems till the child was born