Births following oral contraceptive failures

Neonatal outcome was studied in 108 infants conceived while their mothers were taking oral contraceptives. The infants tended to be born to younger, less educated mothers and were more likely to have been exposed to hormonal pregnancy tests. Ten newborns were malformed; 8 of these were males. One was anencephalic, and 1 infant had Down's syndrome. There was also a significantly large number of twins and an excess of perinatal mortality. These results are similar to those of previous studies, showing a small but increased risk of adverse outcome in infants born after oral contraceptive failure.