Authors : Asha B , Sunitha T
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijogr.2022.104
Volume : 9
Issue : 4
Year : 2022
Page No : 548-552
Introduction: Pregnancy is associated with major physiological changes in the body. Recommendation to avoid all drugs during first trimester is an unrealistic situation, a benefit risk has to be analysed before prescribing, as management of various ailments during pregnancy is equally important. This study aimed to assess the pattern of drug prescription during pregnancy.
Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted at tertiary care teaching hospital by department of Pharmacology and Obstetrics and Gynecology from December 2016 to 2018 after obtaining ethical clearance from Institutional Ethics Committee. The drug prescriptions given to the antenatal women were collected after obtaining verbal consent from them and entered in a predesigned proforma.
Results: Total of 615 prescriptions were collected. The most common category of medicine was minerals/vitamins 536(46.28%). Majority of the drugs were prescribed from category A 597(51.55%) and category B 398(34.36%). Most of the prescriptions contained two drugs per prescription 301(48.9%) followed by one drug per prescription 199(32.3%). WHO prescribing indicators were compared with the finding of current studies.
Conclusion: The average number of drugs prescribed, injectables and anti microbial agents utilized were according to WHO standards. The most commonly prescribed drugs were vitamins and minerals followed by drugs used in vomiting. Category A and B drugs were prescribed to the maximum.
Keywords: Prescription pattern, Pregnancy, Tertiary hospital.