Maternal use of bupropion and risk for congenital heart defects.

Abstract

We sought to determine if maternal bupropion treatment in early pregnancy is associated with congenital heart defects in the infant. We conducted a retrospective case-control study of birth defects risk factors. Data on 6853 infants with major heart defects were compared with 5869 control infants born in 1997-2004. Bupropion exposure was defined as any reported use between 1 month before and 3 months after conception. Mothers of infants with left outflow tract heart defects were more likely to have reported taking bupropion than mothers of control infants (adjusted odds ratio, 2.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-5.7; P = .01). We identified a positive association between early pregnancy bupropion use and left outflow tract heart defects; however, the magnitude of the observed increased risk was small. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to confirm these results.