Early doxycycline use may raise pregnancy loss risk - Takeaways - MDSpire
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Early doxycycline use may raise pregnancy loss risk

Investigators found higher pregnancy loss rates compared with alternative antibiotics for respiratory infections, although findings among patients with acne differed across databases.

  • By

  • Andrea Surnit

  • November 10, 2026

  • 4 min

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  • 1

    This retrospective cohort study analyzed 218,234 pregnancies with respiratory tract infections and 6,636 pregnancies with acne in US claims databases.

  • 2

    For respiratory tract infections, first-trimester doxycycline exposure was associated with higher adjusted relative risks of pregnancy loss than amoxicillin or macrolides in both databases.

  • 3

    For acne, doxycycline was associated with higher pregnancy loss risk than topical clindamycin in MarketScan, but not in Medicaid.

  • 4

    Sensitivity analyses generally supported the respiratory tract infection findings, while stillbirth-specific results were inconclusive because of few events.

  • 5

    The observational study could not establish causality and was limited by possible exposure misclassification, missed early losses, and residual confounding.

Original Source(s)

Early doxycycline use may raise pregnancy loss risk

  • by Andrea Surnit

  • November 10, 2026

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