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The drugs taken by 67 consecutive private patients during the last trimester of pregnancy have been analyzed by means of a maternal diary composed of a day-by-day medication record. Each mother took an average of 8.7 drugs during the period of study (three to nine weeks), when the drugs contained in multiple drug combinations are included. An average of 6.9 (80%) of these were taken without medical supervision or knowledge, and 1.8 (20%) were specifically ordered by the doctor. Next to vitamins, the most commonly used drugs were aspirin (69% of patients) and antacids (60% of patients). By using a personal medication record, the intake of drugs including those not ordinarily considered as "medicines" can be assessed in an outpatient population.With few exceptions, each prenatal medication crosses the placenta1 and is there¬ fore potentially capable of produc¬ ing an adverse drug reaction in the infrauterine patient. The possibility of risk is generally accepted, but the extent of fetal exposure to maternal medications has received little attention. Two reports in the literature2,3 and one in the Medical Tribune (4:1-27, 1963) indicate that mothers take an average of four to five medications during pregnancy. This rate may be a minimal estimate, since in these studies the reporting technique either relied on patient memory or failed to include home remedies and other medications not ordered by the physician. See also page 2049.This report presents a method for more complete and accurate record¬ ing of maternal medications. A simple maternal diary was provided to each prospective mother, and she was asked to record all medications. The diary was accepted by the pa¬ tients, and the results suggest a surprisingly high rate of drug in¬ take during the last trimester of pregnancy. MethodsAll patients of a private obstetri¬ cal practice were invited to partici¬ pate in a "medication study" dur¬ ing the last trimester of pregnancy. None of the patients was chronical¬ ly ill, and none gave a history of drug abuse or psychiatric hospitalizations. The only long-term med¬ ication was penicillin G potassium, taken prophylactically by two moth¬ ers with a history of rheumatic fever. Each prospective mother was then issued a medication diary From the departments of medicine (Drs.

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