ReviewClinical drug investigation2022
Use of Azithromycin in Pregnancy: More Doubts than Certainties.
Review in Clinical drug investigation, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Use of antiparasitic drugs in the prevention of congenital toxoplasmosis: systematic review and meta-analysis].Medecine tropicale et sante internationale · 2025Pooled it
- Can the use of azithromycin during labour reduce the incidence of infection among puerperae and newborns? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- Agent, Dose and Duration: The Unanswered Questions Behind Latency Antibiotic Therapy for Preterm Prelabour Rupture of Membranes.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Azithromycin versus azithromycin-pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine-pyrimethamine for the treatment of ocular toxoplasmosis: a retrospective comparative case-series.Eye (London, England) · 2026Article
- Prenatal Azithromycin Exposure and Risk of Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Children.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Comparative Effectiveness of Azithromycin versus Erythromycin for Latency Prolongation in Preterm Prelabor Rupture of Membranes < 34 Weeks of Gestation.International journal of women's health · 2026Article
- First-trimester exposure to macrolides and risk of major congenital malformations compared with amoxicillin: A French nationwide cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2025Article
- The Protective Role of Folic Acid in Biochemical and Histopathological Changes Induced by Azithromycin in the Livers of Pregnant Albino Rats.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Article
- Azithromycin prevents implantation failure via up-regulation of leukemia inhibitory factor in endotoxemic pregnant rats.Iranian journal of basic medical sciences · 2025Article
- Age-stratified pharmacovigilance of azithromycin: a multimethod signal detection analysis in the FAERS database.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Article
- Developmental exposure of antibiotics shortens life span and induces teratogenicity inToxicology reports · 2024Article
- Assessment of azithromycin-induced toxicity inToxicology reports · 2024Article
- Article
- PeRinatal, neOnatal, and Maternal OuTcomEs with azithromycin prophylaxis in pregnancy and labour (PROMOTE-PROPHYLAXIS): systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Antibiotic use during pregnancy in Sweden: A nationwide utilization study covering 2007-2019.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2024Article
- The molecular mechanisms in prenatal drug exposure-induced fetal programmed adult cardiovascular disease.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Macrolides such as azithromycin are commonly prescribed antibiotics during pregnancy. The good oral bioavailability and transplacental transfer of azithromycin make this drug suitable for the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, toxoplasmosis, and malaria. Moreover, azithromycin is useful both in the management of preterm pre-labor rupture of membranes and in the adjunctive prophylaxis for cesarean delivery. The aim of this comprehensive narrative review is to critically analyze and summarize the available literature on the main aspects of azithromycin use in pregnant women, with a special focus on adverse offspring outcomes associated with prenatal exposure to the drug. References for this review were identified through searches of MEDLINE, PubMed, and EMBASE. Fetal and neonatal outcomes following prenatal azithromycin exposure have been investigated in several studies, yielding conflicting results. Increased risks of spontaneous miscarriage, major congenital malformations, cardiovascular malformations, digestive system malformations, preterm birth, and low birth weight have been reported in some studies but not in others. Currently, there is no conclusive evidence to support that azithromycin use by pregnant women causes adverse outcomes in their offspring. Therefore, this agent should only be used during pregnancy when clinically indicated, if the benefits of treatment are expected to outweigh the potential risks.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.