Profile of drug use during the pregnancies of postpartum women that were hospitalized in Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To identify the profile of drugs used during pregnancy in puerperal women.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken through interviews with the puerperal mothers. All medications reported were classified by adopting the criterion of risk to the pregnancy as defined by the Food and Drug Administration and distributed according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification. To identify determinants for the use of harmful drugs to the fetus, we adopted the chi-square test (p <0,05).

Results: This study included 244 postpartum women. Of these, 98.4% reported having used at least one medication during their pregnancy and 45.5% at the diagnosis of pregnancy. Regarding the medications used at the time of diagnosis; the most common had action in the Nervous System (16.8%), Genitourinary (14.8%) and Alimentary Tract and Metabolism (8.2%). After the diagnosis of pregnancy, the results changed as follows; Blood and Organ Blood (81.1%), Alimentary Tract and Metabolism (68.9%) and Nervous System (73.0%).It was observed that 18.8% of the women were using at least one drug belonging to class D and X at the time of diagnosis, and this percentage decreases to 4.5% during the pre natal period. The risk of using medication was significantly higher in women who did not plan their pregnancy (p <0.001) and also during the period of diagnosis (p <0.001). Conclusions: Pregnant women are exposed to drug use, and an increased risk of drug use was associated with non-planned pregnancies and consequently with their use at the diagnosis of pregnancy.