[Drugs and pregnancy].

The need for further information on drug utilization patterns during pregnancy in different countries was assessed by reviewing literature by hand and computer searches. The resulting profile, from 13 identified studies, was that pregnant women used an average of 4.7 drugs. The most commonly ingested medications were vitamins and iron preparations (almost all women), analgesics, antiemetics and antacids. However, important variables (such as date of surveillance; country; size of involved population; habits; physiopathological and demographic characteristics), differently taken into account in each selected study, made it impossible to construct a comprehensive, detailed, up-to-date picture about drug utilization during pregnancy. The evaluation confirmed the need for and value of systematic permanent surveillance of drug utilization in pregnancy, so as to avoid the use of data obtained in widely differing contexts, times, and methods, in a field where knowledge is often based on scanty information.