Therapeutic drug use during pregnancy: A comparison in four European countries

A drug utilization study was performed using data of the OECM study on Occu pational Exposures and Congenital Malformations, which was conducted in six European Registries of Congenital Anomalies (two in France, two in Italy, one in Great Britain, and one in The Netherlands): the mothers were intervi ewed after delivery for exposures during pregnancy, including use of therap eutic drugs. The analysis of drug use considered only the 1134 control moth ers of healthy newborns, and focused on the first trimester of pregnancy: 3 6.2% of the interviewed mothers used at least one drug (excluding vitamins and minerals) during the first trimester. This rate varied from 22.5% in Gl asgow to 50.3% and 44.2% in the French centers. Antiinfectives were the mos t frequent drugs (12.3% of mothers), then antinauseants (10.6%), and treatm ents for threatened abortion (5.5%). Important variations between countries were observed, reflecting different medical attitudes towards drug use dur ing pregnancy. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc.