Utilization of self-medication, prescription medication and herbal remedies during pregnancy in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

Drug safety is of the highest priority in the treatment of pregnant women, as any effect on the developing fetus will not be immediately evident and the resulting harm could be fatal. The study aimed to assess the use of over-the-counter drugs (OTC), prescription only medicines (POM) and herbal therapies by pregnant women in Punjab, Pakistan. A multicenter study was conducted among pregnant women (N = 205) from tertiary care hospitals such as Hilal-e-Ahmer Hospital Faisalabad, Children Hospital Multan and many other private hospitals in Punjab, Pakistan over a period of approximately 14 weeks. A self-de-veloped questionnaire was used to collect data. The data was interpreted using chi square test. We observed that 79% of women were took OTC drugs during pregnancy, including nonsteroid anti-inflamma-tory drugs (NSAIDs) or antacids. Over 90% of women were prescribed POM and most of them fell into FDA classification category C (n = 88) and B (n = 85). About 49.2% of women had consumed one or two herbs in their pregnancy. The main reasons leading to the use of herbs were constipation (17.08%), upset stomach (5.85%), cold/flu (5.36%), healthy development of the fetus (4.39%) and induction of labor (3.41%). Statistically significant results appeared in two variable namely education (p = 0.02) and number of previous pregnancies (p = 0.038). Highly educated women or women who have had at least one pregnancy are better informed about the harmful effects of using medication during pregnancy.