Evaluation Of The Use And Attitudes Of Pregnant And Postpartum Women Towards Medicine Utilisation During Pregnancy In The United Arab Emirates: A National Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Pregnancy period is of high concern to every woman. Knowledge about medication use needs to be highlighted at such a critical stage.Objective This study aimed to assess pregnant and postpartum women's use and attitude regarding the utilisation of medications during pregnancy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Methods A self-administrated survey was distributed among 500 pregnant and postpartum women randomly selected from the general population of five different cities within the UAE: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, AL Fujairah and Ajman over a period of 3 months. All analyses were two-sided, and a P-value of <=.05 was taken as the cut-off for statistical significance.Results Overall, 434 participants took part in the survey. Forty-one percent of respondents reported that they use drugs during pregnancy, and the most frequently used medications during pregnancy were multivitamins, analgesics and folic acid. Moreover, 77.9% of female participants acquired their knowledge from their gynaecologists. Only 21.7% of respondents reported that the pharmacist provided enough information during dispensing. Most ladies had an uplifting mentality towards medicines, but they believed pregnant ladies should be more wary with respect to medication use during pregnancy. A significant association was found between participants' nationality and occupation, and attitudes about medications (P < .001), where women with Arab nationality and those with health-related careers agreed that they have a higher threshold for using medicines during pregnancy.Conclusion During pregnancy, ladies were more moderate and doubter towards the drug, healthcare providers should know about such mentalities while encouraging pregnant ladies to take prescription.