Anencephaly and maternal common cold

Abstract

To study the risk of anencephaly related to common cold during pregnancy, a case‐control study was made. The series comprised 393 Finnish mothers of anencephalic children and their time‐area‐matched controls in the period 1964 through 1982. Seventy mothers of anencephalic infants and 17 controls had reported common cold in the first trimester [adjusted odds ratio 4.5; 95% confidence interval (2.2–9.1)]. Reported common cold in the second trimester was not associated with anencephaly. As suggested by our previous cohort study in the same population, a true viral influenza resembling “common cold” might not explain the observed association.