The Fetal Safety of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors and Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers
Table 3
Pregnancy outcomes following exposure to ACE/ARBs or other antihypertensives as compared to a healthy comparator group.
Characteristic
ACE/ARB exposed (a)
Other antihypertensives (b)
Healthy nonexposed ()
value
Fetal outcome
Livebirth Spontaneous abortion Elective abortion Fetal death
108 (77.7%) 25 (18.0%) 6 (4.3%) 0
105 (93.7%) 4 (8.9%) 0 3 (2.7%)
120 (88.2%) 16 (11.8%) 0 0
<0.001
Gestational age at birth ()
<0.001
Delivery
Vaginal Cesarean section
62/108 (57.4%) 46/108 (42.6%)
57/106 (53.8%) 49/106 (46.2%)
83/120 (69.1%) 37/120 (30.8%)
0.045
Preterm delivery
No Yes
81/108 (75%) 27/108 (25%)
79/105 (75.2%) 26/105 (24.8%)
117/120 (97.5%) 3/120 (2.5%)
<0.001
Birth weight ()
<0.001
Sex
Male
59 (54.6%)
49 (46.6%)
57 (47.5%)
0.43
Fetal malformations†
Yes
2/108 (1.8%)
2/105 (1.9%)
2/120 (1.6%)
0.99
aIncluding 1 twin pregnancy.
bIncluding 2 twin pregnancies. †Fetal malformations are reported as a proportion of liveborn (in the ACE/ARB group-1 choanal atresia and 1 hypospadias, in the other antihypertensives group-1 unspecified heart murmur and 1 undescended testicle, in the health unexposed group-1 Down’s syndrome and 1 inguinal hernia).