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Clinicians can be reassured that evidence supports recommendations (eg, Global Initiative for Asthma) that pregnant women with asthma can continue use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) during pregnancy, as published in JAMA Network Open. In the study of 6,105 pregnant women in South Korea, 2,108 women (34.5%) continued ICS during the first trimester and were compared to 3,997 women (65.5%) who discontinued ICS during the first trimester. Researchers found ICS continuation was not associated with significantly increased risks of maternal or neonatal complications. Rates per 1,000 pregnancies for continuation versus discontinuation included gestational diabetes, 145.6 vs 131.9 (risk ratio [RR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90–1.22); preterm birth, 131.4 vs 128.6 (RR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.82–1.11); low birth weight, 77.5 vs 58.3 (RR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.89–1.39); and congenital malformations, 57.6 vs 42.2 (RR, 1.22; 95% CI, 0.94–1.56) in the women studied.
Urgent care presentations: It’s not uncommon for pregnant women presenting to urgent care to complain of shortness of breath, but asthma is just one possible consideration. Read more about the clinical thought process in this feature from the JUCM archive: Shortness of Breath in Pregnancy: Differentiating Physiology from Pathology in Urgent Care