title: Prescriptions for uncomplicated malaria treatment among pregnant women in the Brazilian Amazon: evidences from the Mafalda Project.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate antimalarial prescriptions according to quality indicators and to describe adverse events reports among pregnant women with uncomplicated malaria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive study of medical files of pregnant women 15 years and older, residents in high-risk municipalities in the Brazilian Amazon. Antimalarial medicines were characterized by frequency of prescription, type of plasmodium and health care facilities where prescribing took place, and by possible adverse events. Variables were compared by Pearson's chi-square.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 262 medical files were evaluated. Most patients were diagnosed for Plasmodium vivax 71,2%. Chloroquine was the commonest prescribed antimalarial (65.6%). Of P. vivax prescriptions, 9.0%, and 16.2% of P. falciparum prescriptions presented antimalarials not recommended in the official protocol. Prescriptions for P. falciparum , in significantly higher proportion, did not adhere to the official protocol in regard to type of antimalarial and dose/duration of treatment (p = 0,001). They also lacked information on dose and dosing interval (p = 0,004). There were no significant differences among reference centers and basic health care units in respect to the prescribed antimalarials, to prescriptions containing antimalarials not recommended in the official protocol or in respect to lack of dosing information. Chloroquine was the antimalarial most related to the occurrence of adverse events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  THE findings indicate that there are flaws in antimalarial prescribing for pregnant women, especially in respect to their adequacy to the official protocol.
authors.affiliation: Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Centro de Pesquisas René Rachou, Laboratório de Educação em Saúde e Ambiente, Belo HorizonteMG, Brasil.
authors.forename: Tatiana Chama Borges
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Luz
authors.forename: Elaine Silva
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Miranda
authors.forename: Letícia Figueira
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.forename: Claudia Garcia Serpa
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Osório-de-Castro
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001938:Brazil; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials