title: Impact of pregnancy on psychotropic medication prescription: a French cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if and when prescription of psychotropic medication in women is modified by pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Psychotropic prescription of 87 213 pregnant women affiliated with the French General Health System was examined. Period of analyses lasted 17 months to cover 4 months before and after pregnancy. A comparable cohort of 87 213 non pregnant women constituted the control group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than half of pregnant women to whom a psychoactive drug was prescribed were novel users during all three trimesters and after delivery. Prevalence of psychotropic medication before pregnancy is comparable to that of non-pregnant women. Rate of psychotropic medication during the peripartum stayed high, even though it decreased by half during the first trimester, showing a "pregnancy impact effect".
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data show a dramatic impact of pregnancy. More information on specific patterns of prescription needs to be gained in order to establish decision-making models for psychotropic prescription during pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Unité de recherche en psychiatrie et psychopathologie, Erasme, Paris, France - Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Gisèle
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Apter
authors.affiliation: Unité de recherche en psychiatrie et psychopathologie, Erasme, Paris, France - Université Paris Descartes, EA 4057, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Devouche
authors.affiliation: Université Paris Sud, AP-HP, Le Kremlin Bicêtre, France.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Becquemont
mesh_terms: D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011264:Pregnancy Trimesters; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs