Ask An Expert: Asthma Medication and Pregnancy

Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School

Ask An Expert: Asthma Medication and Pregnancy

Question:

Can I continue to take my asthma medication if I am pregnant?

Answer:

It is important to keep your asthma under control during pregnancy. Often, women with asthma need to take some asthma medicine during pregnancy. Most asthma medicines are thought to be safe to use. It is safer to take your asthma medicines than to have asthma symptoms during pregnancy. Untreated asthma can put you and your baby at risk. If you have bad asthma symptoms, the baby might not get enough oxygen. You could also have a smaller baby or deliver prematurely. Taking your medication can protect you and your baby.

Which medicines are safe during pregnancy? Most doctors think that inhaled asthma medicines are safer than pills because they have fewer side effects. If you use an inhaler, most of the medicine goes directly to your lungs. It is not likely to harm your baby.

Quick-relief inhaled medicines like albuterol (Ventolin, Proventil) are considered safe. The inhaled long-acting bronchodilators such as salmeterol (Serevent) appear to be safe as well. And cromolyn (Intal) is a very safe maintenance medicine for chronic asthma.

Inhaled corticosteroids are very effective for long-term control. Studies suggest these are very safe to use during pregnancy. Some people with asthma need to take pills or shots of corticosteroids. These are almost as safe as inhaled steroids. The risk to the baby is very small. Not controlling the asthma puts the baby at much more risk. However, using steroid pills every day during the pregnancy may increase your risk of high blood pressure and kidney problems.

There has not been much experience with Singulair and Accolate. For now, they probably should be avoided during pregnancy. Theophylline should not be used, as there are safer and better medicines available.

Don't stop your asthma medicines when you are pregnant. This could be much more harmful to the baby than taking the medications. The best thing to do is to talk with your doctor about all the medicines you take to make sure you are on the best and safest ones during your pregnancy.

Diana Post, M.D., is an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

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Last updated:	January 24, 2007

Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.

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