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Many pregnant women develop fungal infections, which are often treated with widely used azole-based antifungal medicines. A new study involving researchers from the DTU National Food Institute and Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet) suggests that the use of these medicines during pregnancy may be associated with changes in fetal hormone production, with effects persisting in children after birth.

However, the researchers do not yet know whether the differences they have identified will affect the children's health or their ability to have children later in life. The study is published in the journal Communications Medicine.

The researchers analyzed data from 589 Danish mother–child pairs. Their findings were supported by laboratory experiments using human fetal adrenal tissue and studies in pregnant rats, in which the researchers examined both blood and adrenal tissue from the rat fetuses.

The study found that children whose mothers used antifungal medicines during pregnancy had altered levels of adrenal hormones three months after birth.

"It is striking that the use of azole-based antifungals during pregnancy appears to affect adrenal hormone levels in children long after birth. Although the hormone levels remained within the normal range, the results suggest that fetal development may have been affected," says Terje Svingen, a professor at the DTU National Food Institute.

Adrenal hormones help regulate many functions in the body, including glucose metabolism, blood pressure, immune function, growth and reproductive development.

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