Abstract

Oluwatoba Atolagbe*, Joseph Sam Kanu, Mohamed Bella Jalloh, James B. W. Russell, Joseph B. A. Beckley, Onome Thomas Abiri

ABSTRACT

Background: Appropriate use of medications during pregnancy is an essential part of prenatal care, since it can affect not only the health of the pregnant woman but also that of the developing foetus. This study evaluated prescribing patterns, rational prescribing and occurrence of contraindicated medicines among pregnant women at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown. Materials and Methods: 314 antenatal prescriptions were obtained from the pharmacy of the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital and evaluated retrospectively. Prescription patterns, rational prescribing and risk to the foetus were evaluated using the WHO core prescribing indicators, index of rational drug prescribing (IRDP) and the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pregnancy risk classification of medicines. Results: Excluding minerals and vitamins, 25 (8.0%) of pregnant women received at least one drug. The average number of drugs per encounter, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name, percentage encounters with an antibiotic and an injection and the percentage of drugs prescribed from the NEML were 3.9, 49.5%, 53.5%, 2.2% and 99.9% respectively. The congruent indices of rational drug prescribing were 0.09. 0.50, 0.56, 4.55 and 0.99 correspondingly. Minerals and vitamins 394 (32.6%), were the most frequently prescribed medicines. Of all the medicines prescribed, 221 (43.1%) were FDA category C medicines followed by category A 125 (32.3%). Conclusion: The prescribing pattern was not rational as three of the prescribing indicators fell short of the WHO standard. The existence of contraindicated medicines was suitably low. Therefore, there is need to improve rational prescribing.