Is There a Safety Signal for Dolutegravir and Integrase Inhibitors During Pregnancy?

Dolutegravir, an integrase strand transfer inhibitor (InSTI), is a major antiretroviral agent for HIV infection. Its use is promising, especially in low- and middle-income countries, because of a high resistance barrier and a good safety profile. Very recently, a World Health Organization safety signal has been raised regarding neural tube defects after the first-trimester exposure. Furthermore, to date, the experience is limited regarding the use of the other InSTI drugs (raltegravir and elvitegravir) during pregnancy. Our objective is to analyze the safety of InSTI drugs in pregnant women.

Nation-wide database cohort analysis.

We evaluated the risk of major birth defects according to EUROCAT classification in pregnant women, which had had a first-trimester exposure to dolutegravir, raltegravir, or elvitegravir.

We found a major birth defect rate of 1.9% in the general population between 2012 and 2016. As InSTI drugs are not used as first-line therapy in pregnant women, we found a very low exposure in this population. Among 49, 240, and 70 pregnancy outcomes exposed to dolutegravir, raltegravir, and elvitegravir, respectively, during the first trimester, there were 2, 3, and 1 major birth defects, respectively. There was no case of neural tube defect.

Drug exposure to InSTI is limited in our nation-wide database. Nevertheless, our data do not support a pharmacovigilance signal on neural tube defects in women exposed to dolutegravir, raltegravir or elvitegravir during pregnancy. Owing to a small number of pregnancy outcomes, these results need to be confirmed with further studies.