Common diabetes drug may raise birth defect risk if dad used it recently, study finds

There’s a connection between a commonly prescribed drug for diabetes and a higher risk for birth defects if a father uses it within three months of conceiving a baby, a new study has found.

The drug metformin, one of the top treatments for type 2 diabetes, is linked to this heightened risk, according to researchers from Stanford University and Denmark. The drug helps control high blood sugar, according to WebMD.

Specifically, there’s as much as a 40% greater chance of babies being born with birth defects, including genital, digestive, urinary, heart, chromosomal and limb defects if a father uses it within the certain time frame, according to the work published March 29 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.