Information on drug use in pregnancy from the Viewpoint Regional Drug Information Centre

The need for information on drug use during pregnancy was assessed by reviewing the requests for information arriving at a drug information centre in the past nine years. Of all the queries received 24% concerned this aspect, of which the majority were focused on drug use during pregnancy. Mothers received an average of 2.6 prescriptions, most frequently for antiinfectives, psychotropics, hormones and non-narcotic analgesics. Questions were answered personally after a literature search. A profile of questions and a summary of model cases registered in the archives of the centre are reported. The evaluation confirmed the need for and value of a drug information service in relation to pregnancy, so as to avoid alarmist and falsely reassuring attitudes in a field where knowledge is often based on scanty information.