Effects of Fetal Exposure to Diazoxide in Man

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Abstract
Four infants were born to women treated with oral diazoxide for the last 19 to 69 days of pregnancy. Maternal plasma levels of diazoxide in the 5 days before delivery were related to the intake of the drug and varied between 11 and 43 μg/ml. At delivery the umbilical plasma diazoxide level was lower than that in the mother and was 6·5 to 25 μg/ml. At the age of 24 hours the plasma diazoxide level in the infants had not altered appreciably. Diazoxide was present in the amniotic fluid and was excreted in the urine in the first week of life. Urinary diazoxide excretion was greatest on days 2 and 3 and had fallen to low or undetectable levels by days 6 and 7. No effect of diazoxide was noted on the blood pressure or blood sugar levels of the infants in the first 24 hours. The glucose tolerance of 2 of the infants was normal at 24 hours, but that of the other 2, whose mothers had diabetes, was impaired. Each of the infants developed alopecia and one had hypertrichosis lanuginosa. Abnormal hair growth was first noted at the age of 1 week and persisted when the infants were last seen at the ages of 5 months to 1 year. The bone age of 3 was normal at a chronological age of 5 to 7 months but the fourth, when aged 1 year, had retarded ossification in the wrist. No abnormalities were detected in blood counts, immunoglobulin levels, or ocular development.