Purpose The aim of this study was to describe trends in medication prescriptions dispensed during pregnancy in Belgium using administrative healthcare database records from a representative sample of the Belgian population. Methods Pregnant women were identified with reimbursement codes associated with the delivery of a baby. Data were extracted for three study periods, each over 3 years: 2003–2005, 2009–2011, and 2015–2017. The age‐standardized prevalence of dispensed medications during pregnancy were computed and logistic regression models were used to evaluate the trends in prevalence across the study periods. The most frequently dispensed medications were listed for each study period. Results The study included 23 912 pregnancies. The age‐standardized prevalence of pregnant women with at least one dispensed medication increased across the three study periods from 81.8.% to 89.3%. The median number and interquartile range of the different medications dispensed during pregnancy rose from 2 (1–6) to 3 (1–7) between the first and last study periods. In the 2015–2017 period, the most frequently dispensed medications during pregnancy included progesterone (25.5%), paracetamol (17.8%), and amoxicillin (17.1%). The data also showed an increasing trend for the dispensation of ibuprofen and ketorolac during pregnancy across the three study periods. Conclusions The prevalence of prescribed medications dispensed during pregnancy increased in Belgium from 2003 to 2017 with high proportion for Progesterone and Antibiotics. Utilization of certain nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increased between 2003 and 2017, despite recommendations to avoid them.

Actual retail prices and reimbursement tariffs for a neck brace and a knee brace exceeded prices based on estimated costs. Therefore, there appears to be scope for reducing tariffs.

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This study compared market prices (i.e. third-party reimbursement and patient co-payment) of prefabricated neck, wrist and knee braces in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Ontario (Canada) and the UK. Data were collected through contacts with health authorities, health insurance funds, manufacturers and distributors. Market prices varied substantially between countries, indicating that manufacturers adapt their price setting strategy to the policy environment and the structure of the brace market of a country. Belgian prices tended to exceed prices in other countries for the selected neck, wrist and knee braces. There seems to be scope for reducing Belgian prices of selected braces.