Pattern of drug consumption and its changes during the first trimester of pregnancy

Background: Self-administered drug consumption especially in early pregnancy is very important due to its causative role in more than 3% of total congenital abnormalities. Objective: To study the patterns and particulars of drug consumption before and after pregnancy. Methods: Through a cross-sectional random sampling study, a questionnaire containing 26 questions was filled by 400 pregnant women who were in the first trimester of pregnancy referring to health centers of Rasht city. Findings: The results indicated that 34% of the samples consumed drugs before and 43.75% consumed drugs after pregnancy in which 19.5% had been self-administered. Analgesics, antibiotics and digestive drugs (53%) were used before and vitamins (25%), anti-anemia (19%) and digestive drugs (13%) were used more after pregnancy. Differences in variables such as age, job, number of pregnancies, wanted or unwanted pregnancy and drug consumption during pregnancy were significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results indicated that in spite of all warnings, 8.5% of samples in this research consumed drugs in the first trimester (Organogenesis period) of the pregnancy.