Department of Pharmacy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Adigrat University, P.O.Box: 50, Adigrat, Ethiopia.
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia.
BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2020 Oct 15;20(1):624. doi: 10.1186/s12884-020-03327-7.
A vigilant prescription of drugs during pregnancy can potentially safeguard the growing fetus from the deleterious effect of the drug while attempting to manage the mother's health problems. There is a paucity of information about the drug utilization pattern in the area of investigation. Hence, this study was implemented to investigate the pattern of drug utilization and its associated factors among pregnant women in Adigrat general hospital, Northern Ethiopia.
An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 314 pregnant women who attended obstetrics-gynecology and antenatal care units of the hospital. Relevant data were retrieved from the pregnant women's medical records and registration logbook. The drugs prescribed were categorized based on the United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA) fetal harm classification system. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20 statistical software. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to analyze the association of the explanatory variables with the medication use, and p < 0.05 was declared statistically significant.
The overall prescribed drug use in this study was found to be 87.7%. A considerable percentage of the study participants (41.4%) were prescribed with supplemental drugs (iron folate being the most prescribed drug) followed by antibiotics (23.4%) and analgesics (9.2%). According to the US-FDA drug's risk classification, 42.5, 37, 13, and 7% of the drugs prescribed were from categories A, B, C, and D or X respectively. Prescribed drug use was more likely among pregnant women who completed primary [AOR = 5.34, 95% CI (1.53-18.6)] and secondary education [AOR = 4.1, 95% CI (1.16-14)], who had a history of chronic illness [AOR = 7.9, 95% CI (3.14-19.94)] and among multigravida women [AOR = 2.9, 95% CI (1.57 5.45)].
The finding of this study revealed that a substantial proportion of pregnant women received drugs with potential harm to the mother and fetus. Reasonably, notifying health practitioners to rely on up-to-date treatment guidelines strictly is highly demanded. Moreover, counseling and educating pregnant women on the safe and appropriate use of medications during pregnancy are crucial to mitigate the burden that the mother and the growing fetus could face.
在怀孕期间谨慎用药可以潜在地保护胎儿免受药物的有害影响，同时试图解决母亲的健康问题。关于调查地区的药物使用模式，信息匮乏。因此，本研究旨在调查埃塞俄比亚北部阿迪格拉特综合医院孕妇的药物使用模式及其相关因素。
这是一项在随机选择的 314 名在医院妇产科和产前保健单位就诊的孕妇中进行的基于机构的横断面研究。从孕妇的病历和登记日志中检索相关数据。根据美国食品和药物管理局（US-FDA）胎儿伤害分类系统对开具的药物进行分类。使用 SPSS 版本 20 统计软件进行数据分析。采用多变量逻辑回归分析解释变量与药物使用的相关性，p<0.05 为统计学显著。
本研究发现，总体处方药物使用率为 87.7%。相当一部分研究参与者（41.4%）被开了补充药物（铁叶酸是最常开的药物），其次是抗生素（23.4%）和镇痛药（9.2%）。根据 US-FDA 药物的风险分类，42.5%、37%、13%和 7%的处方药物分别属于 A、B、C 和 D 或 X 类。在完成小学[比值比（AOR）=5.34，95%置信区间（CI）（1.53-18.6）]和中学[AOR=4.1，95%CI（1.16-14）]教育、有慢性病史[AOR=7.9，95%CI（3.14-19.94）]和多胎妊娠[AOR=2.9，95%CI（1.57-5.45）]的孕妇中，处方药物的使用更有可能。
本研究发现，相当大比例的孕妇接受了可能对母亲和胎儿造成伤害的药物。合理的做法是，强烈要求卫生保健工作者严格依靠最新的治疗指南。此外，告知孕妇在怀孕期间安全和适当使用药物对于减轻母亲和成长中胎儿可能面临的负担至关重要。
