Awareness among pregnant women regarding the use and safety of drugs during pregnancy in the state of Punjab: A cross-sectional observational study

Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Drugs and Cosmetic Use among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Clinic of a Tertiary Care Center

“…16 In contrast, two studies have reported a very less proportion of women (1-4%) who could list drugs harmful during pregnancy. 12,13 Women in our study believed that drugs should mainly be avoided in the third trimester, followed by the second and first trimester. In contrast to this, more than half of the participants in Eldalo et al 17 and almost all in Zaki et al 15 knew that drugs should mainly be avoided in the first trimester.…”

“…They also reported that around 60% of the women thought they were prescribed many medications by the physicians. 12,13 Around 11 % of women in our study believed that cosmetics may have an effect on them or the fetus but, all of them also believe that not all cosmetics are harmful during pregnancy. A decrease in cosmetic use during pregnancy was reported by 4.94% women.…”

“…In other studies conducted worldwide, the proportion of women obtaining information doctors is more than 60%. 12,14,15,17 In a study by Eldalo et al 60.2% obtained this information from physicians, 34.4% from pharmacists and only 1.4% from media. 17 Navrao et al reported that 75% obtained information from physicians, followed by the internet in 47% and pharmacists in 14.7% 14 Zaki et al reported that gynecologists (58.1%) followed by a general practitioner (13%), pharmacist (11%) and lastly the media, family and friends as well as the internet (10%) were primary sources.…”

“…These findings are similar to a study by Dureja et al where 40% of women believed that drugs have an effect on the fetus but only 22.4% believed that irrational use can cause congenital anomalies in the fetus. 12 Gopinath et al reported that 17% of women believed that medications were responsible for congenital abnormalities of their newborn. 13 However, in a study in Italy a higher number of women i.e.…”

“…Dureja et al reported 23.4% of women had knowledge of the effect of the use of cosmetics during pregnancy which is higher than that of our findings. 12 A study by Marie et al showed that few women stopped cosmetic use during pregnancy except for nail polish and almost half of them considered that there is no risk in the use of cosmetics during pregnancy. 18 We also found that 32.03% of pregnant women said to have taken drugs outside a doctor's prescription during their pregnancy mostly for ailments like vomiting, rhinitis, fever and headache.…”