Doctors Failing to Discuss Drug-related Pregnancy Risks
A new report has been issued which highlights the failure of doctors to properly warn female patients of the pregnancy-related risks associated with certain prescription drugs. The study was undertaken by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and involved the participation of almost 500,000 patients. Almost 50 per cent of them had not received doctors’ advice regarding the need to use contraceptives or comparable measures.
As per the study’s main author: "The message is not that women should avoid taking prescription medications that they need and that their doctors recommend", but that the potential risks of pregnancy should form a part of pre-prescription counselling.
The report was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It conceded that the data contained within it might be overestimated, given that it was sourced from health plan billing codes, as opposed to medical records. A percentage of the doctors in question could have informed their patients in respect of pregnancy, but then failed to record this.
However, says the report, away from these factors, a trend can be viewed in that large numbers of women are not being fully informed to avoid becoming pregnant while prescribed certain, specific drugs. Among those drug groups that could trigger birth defects are acne treatments, cholesterol decreasers, and epileptic and sleep deprivation drugs.
The range of women assessed were aged between 15 and 44. All were patients at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Nearly 17 per cent of them were prescribed a drug that is known to carry the risk of birth defects. This group, the researchers discovered, was likely to be provided with the same level of pregnancy council as other women taking medications deemed safer (when it should be more).
According to Dr Michael Katz, the scale of the issue could be less problematic than depicted in the study, but still, extra awareness is required on the parts of both patients and doctors. "One of the things this paper does is raise consciousness and that's very helpful", he added.
The US Food and Drug Administration distinguishes between drugs it considers safe, and those regarded as more damaging, in respect of pregnancies. These distinctions are published yet, as per the report’s main author – the hectic pace of the typical doctor’s working day generally precludes him/her referring to the guide.
Funding for the study came, in part, from Duramed – a division of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. The principal author was Dr Eleanor Bimla Schwarz.
Source – Pharmaceutical International’s US Reporter
