Drug use behaviour of pregnant women in rural India

Objective: To evaluate the drug use habit of pregnant women in villages of central India.Methods: An observational, cross sectional study was conducted among six hundred fifty pregnant women from different randomly selected villages of Wardha district of central India through interviews on medicine use behaviour and evaluation of prescriptions.Results: Pregnant women of younger age group from lower socio economic status constituted the majority of the study population. Major portion (97.7) of this socioeconomically backward population followed the doctor s advice as far as dose, frequency and duration of the drug was concerned. The antenatal mothers were of the opinion that, if the instructions on the drug envelop or foil was in written in the local language, it could be more helpful for them.Conclusion: Majority of the study population used drugs or medicines regularly but some mothers were reluctant. This indicated that even in this age of advancement of scientific knowledge, all antenatal mothers were not conversant with the advantages of drug use.