Prenatal progesterone exposure may not be beneficial or harmful to offspring: Study

It is important to consider how many women use progesterone nowadays. International guidelines advise progesterone as luteal phase support for assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and for preterm birth prevention.

"The exact percentage of pregnancies in which progesterone is employed is estimated at 5- 12% of all pregnancies (around 2-3% of babies are born through ART in western countries and the incidence of preterm birth is 5-12%). The expanding list of indications for progesterone in pregnancy have led to growing numbers of children exposed to progesterone at various stages of pregnancy."

In the systematic review evaluating the long-term effect of prenatal progesterone treatment in children published in British Journal of obstetrics and gynecology (BJOG), the researcher NE Simmons and team concluded "no evidence of long-term beneficial or harmful effects after administration of progesterone in the second and/or third trimester for preterm birth prevention."

However, the effects in this study were limited to the group exposed to progesterone in mid to late pregnancy. More data concerning the administration of progesterone in early pregnancy following the outcome of neuro developmental effects in babies needs to be studied further.

https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16582