LOS ANGELES — Consuming opioid pain relievers such as codeine, oxycodone or hydrocodone just before pregnancy or early in pregnancy increases the risk of certain birth defects, especially congenital heart defects, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Wednesday.
The warning extends to such prescription painkillers as Vicodin, OxyContin and Tylenol-3, as well as a variety of generic versions of the drugs.
Although there is an increased risk of some major types of birth defects from exposure to the drugs, “the absolute risk for any individual woman is relatively modest,” said epidemiologist Cheryl Broussard of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Broussard led a study of the drugs that will be published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Congenital heart defects affect nearly 40,000 infants in the United States each year. Los Angeles Times
