Omeprazole for peptic ulcer disease in pregnancy

This report contains the observations of 9 women who received omeprazole for severe reflux disease during different stages of pregnancy. Four patients took omeprazole at the time of conception, and 3 of these patients continued omeprazole therapy without interruption until delivery. One patient discontinued therapy in the 8th week of pregnancy but had to take the drug again from the 28th week to delivery. The other 5 patients started therapy in weeks 24, 30, 33, 34 and 36 of pregnancy because of bleeding in 2 patients and unbearable H2 receptor refractory reflux symptoms in the other 3 patients. All patients were carefully monitored. In all cases omeprazole was well tolerated. No severe side effects were observed in any of the mothers or their newborns. No malfunctions or malformations were observed in the newborns. Follow-up of the children between 2 and 12 years showed normal development in all children. These data together with the data on 8 such pregnancies published by other authors suggest that omeprazole is safe when given during pregnancy at whatever phase.