Landscape review of global real-world data sources for studying medication use in pregnancy and lactation that support regulatory decision making

Abstract

Purpose: Most pregnant people take at least one medication during gestation or while breastfeeding, however data are lacking on the safety of medication use in these populations. We conducted a landscape review of real-world data sources specific to medication use in pregnancy and breastfeeding populations that have met, or have potential to meet, health authorities' requirements for post-authorization safety studies. Methods: A 2-phase approach identified data sources from literature, publicly available registers of non-interventional post-authorization studies of pregnant women, existing database inventories, and emerging data sources known to the authors. Results: Required key attributes were assessed according to current regulatory guidance, resulting in selection of 49 suitable data sources. All global regions were represented, with North America (37%) and Europe (33%) most common; 12% of the data sources included pregnancy information from low-to middle-income countries. Administrative healthcare claims (25%) and electronic healthcare records (21%) comprised the largest types of data sources. Across data sources, 53% were managed by national or regional governments, 27% by industry, and 20% by academic institutions. Maternal age, diagnoses, prenatal care, and reproductive history were available in most, whereas fewer included demographic data (e.g., race/ethnicity). Breastfeeding data were collected in 37% of the final data sources. Conclusion: We conducted a systematic approach to data source evaluation of pregnancy and breastfeeding to be used as a resource for investigators to consider when designing pregnancy-related research studies to satisfy regulatory requirements.