Drug utilization study during pregnancy.

Abstract

The history of drug registration in most developed countries has been strongly influenced by the dramatic thalidomide disaster. A systematic hand search identified all women who delivered between September 1st 1993 and June 1st 1994. A total of 2389 mothers were set against the Australian Classification of Drugs with respect to their known or suspected risks in pregnancy. According to the interview after delivery, and from the hospital files, the prescription rate of all drugs increased from 15% in period-1 (two months before pregnancy), to an average of 65.66% during pregnancy. We could divide the groups of drugs used during pregnancy into major and minor groups according to the number of women who ingested drugs in the different trimesters. 1. In the first trimester, women received major amounts of blood-forming drugs, vitamins and electrolytes, hormones, anxiolytics, antibiotics and GI drugs. 2. In the second trimester, women received major amounts of blood-forming drugs, vitamins and electrolytes, anti-infectives, anxiolytics, tocolytics and antihypertensive. 3. In the third trimester, women received major amounts of blood-forming drugs, vitamins and electrolytes, tocolytics, anxiolytics, anti-infectives, antithrombotics and antihypertensive. The drug groups mentioned above have been set according to it's decreasing use respectively.