Use of drugs during pregnancy in Japanese women

The use of drugs during pregnancy was studied in 890 women, who were delivered of their babies in 11 obstetric departments of general hospitals in Japan, during the one month period of November 1989. Of these women, 889 (99.9%) took one or more drugs during the whole period of pregnancy and the number of drugs taken averaged 9.6. During pregnancy 172 women (19.3%) did not take drugs, and the remaining 718 (80.7%) took a total of 1766 medications. The most commonly used drugs were anti-anemic, anti-abortion medications, digestives, and antimicrobials. Bronchodilators, psychotropic agents, anticonvulsants, and steroids were each prescribed during pregnancy for about 1% of the women. Malformations were found at birth in 12 infants (1.3%). No significant relations were found between these anomalies and ingestion of particular drugs. During pregnancy, 9.3% of the women continued to smoke, and 1.9% continued to consume moderate amounts or more of alcohol. (Tab. 8, Ref. 7.)