[Drugs for the mother and infant in the maternity ward. A study of 5 Norwegian university hospitals].

Hospital records were used to record, all drugs prescribed in the maternity ward, delivery characteristics and complications in both mother and infant at five university hospitals. The retrospective survey comprised 970 women and represented 10% of all vaginal deliveries in these hospitals in 1980, and 2% of all annual births in Norway. In total 90% of the women received drugs, excluding laxatives, oxytocics and long-term medication, vitamins and iron. Large variations were found between hospitals in respect of hypnotics (41-86%) and analgesics (65-95%). Of newborns 4-23% were treated with a drug. The large variation was largely due to frequent administration of naloxone at one of the hospitals. Drug utilization post partum was significantly higher in primipareas and in mothers who underwent interventions such as epidural anaesthesia, oxytocin drip, forceps delivery and tears. 98% of the babies were breast-fed on discharge and thus received milk potentially containing drugs. The frequent use of hypnotics indicates that breast-feeding mothers were treated like hospital patients in general. For the majority of the drugs used as a routine in the maternity wards there was no data or insufficient data on excretion in breast milk. The large discrepancy between hospitals as regards prescription of hypnotics and oxytocics to the mother and naloxone to the newborn was considered not to reflect rational prescription criteria and should therefore be reassessed.