title: Drug prescribing pattern in pregnancy in a secondary care hospital in south India: a retrospective study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In pregnancy drug treatment presents a special concern due potential teratogenic effects and physiologic alterations in mother. This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the drug prescribing pattern in pregnancy among pregnant women in a secondary care hospital in India.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional retrospective study was done for 3 months using pre-formatted forms and patient's records.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 326 drugs, including 46 different types of drugs, were prescribed to 606 gravid women. Eight different types of medications were started before being seen at the antenatal clinic. Most of these drugs fall under US FDA pregnancy categories B and C and few under categories A, X and N.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study reflects a good, safe and rational medication practice during pregnancy in various common disorders in a secondary care hospital and can be cited as an example to similar primary and secondary care hospitals.
authors.affiliation: PG Registrar, Department of Pharmacology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India saibaldas123@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Saibal
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
authors.forename: Blessed
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Winston A
authors.affiliation: PG Registrar, Department of Pharmacology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
authors.forename: Deepasree
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sukumaran
authors.affiliation: Lecturer, Department of Pharmacology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
authors.forename: Aniket
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
authors.forename: Margaret Shanthi
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Fx
authors.affiliation: Professor, Department of Community Health and Development, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India.
authors.forename: Jasmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Prasad
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011295:Prenatal Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D063127:Secondary Health Care
keywords: Teratogenicity; drug prescribing pattern; pregnancy; pregnancy drug category