Prescription drug use during pregnancy in France: a study from the national health insurance permanent sample. Issue 9 (30th July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Demailly, Romain; Escolano, Sylvie; Quantin, Catherine; Tubert‐Bitter, Pascale; Ahmed, Ismaïl
• Is Part Of: Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety. Volume 26:Issue 9(2017)
• Page Start: 1126
• Page End: 1134
• Publication Date: 2017-07-30
• Subjects: administrative healthcare database -- drug recommendations -- pharmacoepidemiology -- pregnancy -- prescription medications; Pharmacoepidemiology -- Periodicals; Chemotherapy -- Periodicals; Epidemiology -- Periodicals; 615.705
• DOI: 10.1002/pds.4265
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1053-8569

Abstract

Abstract: Purpose: To provide an up‐to‐date account of drug prescription during pregnancy in France from 2011 to 2014 using the permanent sample of the French national computerized healthcare database and with a focus on recommended supplementations, fetotoxic drugs and teratogenic drugs. Methods: All pregnancies identified by the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes list in the hospitalization database, lasting more than 9 weeks of amenorrhea and whose delivery occurred between 01/01/2011 and 12/31/2014, were included. Drugs delivered between the trimester before and until the end of the pregnancy were included. Drug exposure prevalence was calculated for each year and according to pregnancy trimesters. Results: The study included 28, 491 pregnancies with a median number of 9 [5–13] (median [IQ range]) drugs delivered. The most prescribed drug class was antianemia (in 72.5% of exposed). The prescription rate of recommended vitamins (B9 and D) increased over the study period (+10%). Influenza vaccination also increased but remained at a low rate (1%). Exposure to fetotoxic drugs decreased as pregnancy advanced. Exposure to the main teratogenic antiepileptics was stable over the study period. Low‐income pregnant women had a higher average drug consumption except for recommended vitamins. Conclusion: Pregnant French women are among the largest consumers of prescription medications worldwide. Overall, the dispensation trends observed in this study are in line with the recommendations of the French National College of Gynecologists and Obstetricians. Nevertheless, while being low, exposure to fetotoxic drugs, teratogenic drugs or those under safety alerts still occurred. Supplementations and vaccines in low‐income pregnant women should also be increased.