OBJECTIVES: Objective of the study was to evaluate the drug utilization pattern in pregnancy.

METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted among admitted pregnant women in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Institutional ethics committee approval was obtained prior to the study. Pregnant women admitted to Obstetrics & Gynaecology ward during January 2013 to December 2017 were identified using ICD-10 Code O00.0-O99.9 from inpatient medical records, based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Parameters like demography, gravidity, comorbid conditions, drugs prescribed and its utilization details, length of hospitalization and neonatal outcome were collected from the patient medical records. Drugs were classified according to FDA Pregnancy Categories and drug consumption was calculated using WHO defined daily dose (DDD) methodology.

RESULTS: Study included 876 pregnant women. The mean age of the study population was 29.4±4.4 (mean±SD) years. Diabetes mellitus (33.6%) was the most common co-morbidity, followed by hypertension (28.3%) and thyroid disorders (18.3%). Most of the neonate born were alive and healthy (94.3%), 6 neonates expired during post-natal period and 1 had cleft lip.

Folic acid (15.7%), calcium (15.2%), ferrous fumarate (7.1%), vitamin B12 (5.3%) and vitamin B6 (3.4%) were the most commonly prescribed drugs. In terms of DDD/100 bed days, levothyroxine (369.3), digoxin (53.6), dydrogesterone (27.4) and salbutamol (20.5) were the most commonly utilized drugs.

CONCLUSIONS: Levothyroxine was one of the most commonly utilized drug among the study population because 18.3% of pregnant women had thyroid disorders. It is essential to treat thyroid disorders during pregnancy. Study also reveals that FDA category X drugs were very rarely prescribed during the first trimester of the pregnancy in the study population. However it essential to monitor drug usage during pregnancy and correlate with neonatal out-come.