Landscape review of global real‐world data sources for studying medication use in pregnancy and lactation that support regulatory decision making

Abstract

PurposeMost pregnant people take at least one medication during gestation or while breastfeeding, however data are lacking on the safety of medication use in these populations. We conducted a landscape review of real‐world data sources specific to medication use in pregnancy and breastfeeding populations that have met, or have potential to meet, health authorities' requirements for post‐authorization safety studies.MethodsA 2‐phase approach identified data sources from literature, publicly available registers of non‐interventional post‐authorization studies of pregnant women, existing database inventories, and emerging data sources known to the authors.ResultsRequired key attributes were assessed according to current regulatory guidance, resulting in selection of 49 suitable data sources. All global regions were represented, with North America (37%) and Europe (33%) most common; 12% of the data sources included pregnancy information from low‐to middle‐income countries. Administrative healthcare claims (25%) and electronic healthcare records (21%) comprised the largest types of data sources. Across data sources, 53% were managed by national or regional governments, 27% by industry, and 20% by academic institutions. Maternal age, diagnoses, prenatal care, and reproductive history were available in most, whereas fewer included demographic data (e.g., race/ethnicity). Breastfeeding data were collected in 37% of the final data sources.ConclusionWe conducted a systematic approach to data source evaluation of pregnancy and breastfeeding to be used as a resource for investigators to consider when designing pregnancy‐related research studies to satisfy regulatory requirements.