Assessment of Drug prescription Pattern in pregnancy in A Tertiary Care Hospital: A Prospective Study

Abstract

Pregnancy is a special physiological condition and managing medical conditions during pregnancy is a challenge due to the teratogenic potential of many drugs. This cross-sectional prospective study was conducted for a period of 6 months to describe the prescription pattern and risk categorization of drugs among pregnant inpatients in a tertiary care hospital. Pregnant inpatients of OBG ward in any trimester who were prescribed with at least one drug were included. Demographic details and list of prescribed drugs were collected from medical records of patients. The drugs prescribed were grouped according to their pharmacological classes and US FDA pregnancy risk classification. Prescription pattern was assessed using WHO core prescribing indicators. A total of 951 drugs comprising 34 different drugs were prescribed for 420 pregnant women. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 2.3 ± 0.9 (SD). Anti- anemic/vitamin and mineral supplements (288, 30.3%), followed by antibiotics (142, 14.93%) and antihypertensive drugs (127, 13.35%) were the most commonly prescribed classes of drugs. As per FDA Drug Risk Category, most of prescribed drugs belonged to category B (42.26%) and category A (32.9%) followed by category C (17%), category D (1.05%) and category X (0.84%). It was found that the overall prescription pattern of drugs among pregnant inpatients was safe and rational since the majority of prescribed drugs fell under category A and B pregnancy. Continuous drug utilization evaluation in this population and interaction of clinical pharmacist with healthcare team is crucial to have rational and safe prescription of drugs among hospitalized pregnant women.