One of the most popular fertility drugs, Clomid, has been linked to many birth defects — heart defects, skull defects, spina bifida, and more.
Clomid and Birth Defects
The fertility drug Clomid has been on the market since the 1960s and is one of the most popular fertility drugs in the world. It helps women get pregnant by helping the ovaries release an egg.
Clomid is useful for getting pregnant, but unfortunately it is extremely toxic to a developing fetus. It is a “Pregnancy Category X” drug, which is the FDA’s strongest classification to warn about birth defects.
Evidence linking Clomid and birth defects continues to grow. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study in 2012 linking Clomid with a 3X increased risk of birth defects.
In 2010, the CDC warned that the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (1997-2005) found significantly higher rates of eight severe defects. The study was published in the journal Human Reproduction. Birth defects linked to Clomid included:
- Anencephaly (2.3X risk)
- Dandy-Waker malformation (4.4X risk)
- Heart defects
- Muscular ventricular septal defect (4.9X risk)
- Septal heart defects (1.6X risk)
- Coarctation of the aorta (1.8X risk)
- Cloacal exstrophy (5.4X risk)
- Craniosynostosis (1.9X risk)
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