Abstract

Abstract Drug treatment during pregnancy presents a special concern. Pharmacoepidemiological studies can measure the extent of prescription and teratogenic drug use in pregnant women. Objective: To understand the prescribing trends &pharmacological class wise drug consumption; to classify the drugs prescribed during antenatal care according to the US-FDA category; to determine the number of drugs prescribed as per National List of Essential Medicine [NLEM]; to analyze the prescription based on WHO core drug prescribing indicators; to find the prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy. A prospective observational study was conducted at SSIMS & RC, Davangere, Karnataka for a period of six months. Methodology: The data about 200 pregnant women were collected from OBG OPD and documented.The appropriateness of the prescribing pattern was analyzed as per US FDA risk category, WHO prescribing indicators and as per NLEM.Results: Drugs prescribed in generic name was 35%, most prescribed route of administration was oral. All pregnant women were having at least primary education. Most prescription was encountered in 2nd trimester with average number of drugs prescribed with 3.5. The most associated medical condition was anemia in which mild anemia was high in 2nd trimester followed by Nausea & Vomiting. Most commonly prescribed drug was calcium supplement followed by Iron. Category C drugs were prescribed more. No X category drugs were prescribed. Conclusion: Our study revealed a careful prescribing behavior by the physicians to the pregnant women under antenatal care visiting outpatient department of a tertiary care teaching hospital.

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