Maternal use of bupropion and risk for congenital heart defects

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine if maternal bupropion treatment in early pregnancy is associated with congenital heart defects in the infant. STUDY DESIGN: 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. RESULTS: 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). CONCLUSION: 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.