Professor Shin Ju-young’s research team from the School of Pharmacy proved how the risk of newborn teratogenesis could increase when early pregnant women take benzodiazepine. This was verified from big data of the domestic healthcare system via wide-scale research. Even if benzodiazepine has been widely used for curing or relieving mental illnesses, it can accumulate inside the fetal tissue of a newborn baby by penetrating through the placenta and then influence cell multiplication and differentiation. Even though the dosage of benzodiazepine during pregnancy was proved to be harmful, about 1-2% of pregnant women have still received their prescriptions. Prof. Shin said, “Taking benzodiazepine in the early stages of pregnancy significantly increases the risk of overall teratogenesis, especially cardiac anomaly, and risks aggravation in higher dosage groups than lower dosage groups.” Furthermore, the research team mentioned, “If it is inevitable to use benzodiazepine, pregnant women should prioritize minimum effective dose prescriptions to lessen potential threats on the fetus.” The research paper was published in the famous journal Public Library of Science (PLOS) Medicine on March 3rd.