Drug use in pregnant women of Mirandela, Macedo de Cavaleiros and Bragança
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abstract
The use of drugs during the gestational period is a subject of great concern once the exposure of medicines may result in toxicities with possible irreversible lesions for fetus. In fact, drugs in pregnancy have been restricted since the accident of thalidomide. In 1979 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) adopts the classification of drugs as the risk associated with their use during pregnancy, these being classified into 5 classes (A, B, C, D and X).
The aim of the present study was to characterize the use of drug therapy in pregnant women of of Mirandela, Macedo de Cavaleiros and Bragança regions.
A cross-sectional study was performed through application of a questionnaire to 134 pregnant women in the Northeast (Mirandela, Macedo de Cavaleiros and Bragança regions) during a consultation in a health center. Descriptive statistics were used, as well as univariate and multivariate statistical analysis, with significance level of 5%.
The sample was comprised of a total of 134 pregnant women in the Northeast area mostly with ages between 21 and 30 years or between 31 and 40 years (56.7% and 35.8%, respectively), secondary or higher education (48.5% and 42.5%, respectively) and employed (67.2%). About half of pregnant (47.8%) were in the 3rd quarter of pregnancy. 78.4% (105 women) of the pregnant have been used drugs during the pregnancy, 64.4% after medical prescription, and 71.6% have acquired the medication at the pharmacy. In detail, the medication most used was folic acid (64.2%, 86 of the pregnant women) belongs to class A, paracetamol from class B (35.1%, n= 47), iodine (17.2%, n=23) and iron (14.9%, n=20), both belonging to the class A. Less reported drugs have included metoclopramide (6.0%) and Vitamin D3 (6.0%), from Class C and Class D, respectively. It is important to refer that 12.7% of women had a chronic disease and 2.2% have an acute disease during the pregnancy. The diseases more reported were asthma and diabetes. In the present study, the use of drugs in pregnancy was independent of the education level, chronic or acute disease, locality, marital status, employment status, gestational period and health center.
The drugs most used by pregnant women belong to class A (18.5%), class B (25.9%) and class C (33.3%) and the less used belong to class D and X. Supplements such as folic acid, iodine and iron and the analgesic paracetamol were the most reported.
