Drugs use during pregnancy at Medani Maternity Hospital, Sudan

Abstract

Background: There is a limited knowledge on use of drugs during pregnancy including beneficial and possible adverse effects of drugs on both the mother and the fetus.
Objective: To investigate epidemiology of use of drugs during pregnancy.
Methods: A cross sectional hospital based study at Medani Hospital during the period December 2011. After signing an informed consent, a pre-tested questionnaire was used to gather data from each parturient mother on her age, parity, level of education, antenatal care visits and use of drug during the index pregnancy.
Results: The vast majority (334; 98.2%) of the interviewed women used drugs during the index pregnancy. Around ten percent (35; 10.5%) of these women used the drugs in the first trimester of pregnancy. The majority (266; 78.2%) used the drugs in third trimester and the rest used it in the second trimester. The most common drugs used were antibiotics, tonics, antimalarials and antiemetic.
Conclusion: There is a very high rate of drug use in this setting. Antibiotics and antimalarials drugs were the most used drugs.

Keywords: drugs, pregnancy, antibiotics, antimalarials, Sudan.