Evaluation of medication use and drug abuse during pregnancy in Tehran

Abstract

Background: Medication consumption and drug abuse are considered important socio-economic and medicolegal issues all around the world. The significance of the problem is highlighted during pregnancy. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of medication and drug consumption during pregnancy in Tehran. Methods: In this descriptive study, we selected several maternity hospitals as the sources of our study population. All women of postpartum period willing to participate in the study were included. We prepared self-designed questionnaires to be filled out by trained personnel while interviewing women face to face. All the data were collected and analyzed by SPSS16 software. Results: In this study, we evaluated 3279 mothers who delivered in 10 different hospitals in Tehran. The result showed that the most common medications used during pregnancy were iron (85.2%), folic acid (81.7%), and calcium (48.2%). In this population, insulin, levothyroxine, and antihypertensive medications were used in 7.1%, 5.9%, and 1.8% of the mothers, respectively. Overall, 14.5% of our population used medications for medical conditions during pregnancy. Cigarette smoking, alcohol, and substance abuse before or during pregnancy had a very low prevalence in comparison with other developed countries. Conclusions: The use of medication during pregnancy increases the risk of several complications. Careful pharmaceutical monitoring during pregnancy and national surveys are recommended for obtaining up-to-date information and making a better decision by policymakers.