Self-medication during pregnancy and motivational factors

Self-medication during pregnancy is common in developing countries [1-3]. This study aims to evaluate the self-medication practice among pregnant women in the last seven, thirty and sixty days before the first consult at a high-risk antenatal care. In this cross-sectional study, 100 pregnant women were included between Apr and Jul 2019. It was considered as self-medication the use of any medicine, vitamins, herbal medicines and medicinal plants without a medical or dental prescription. This study was approved by Ethics Committee. The mean women’s age was 30 years ±6.4 and the mean gestational age was 19 ±7.8 weeks. The self-medication was 19.0%, 23.0% and 31.0% in the last seven, third and sixty days. The most used medication was acetaminophen: 63.1%, 52.1% and 33.3% respectively. The most symptom related was headache and the most common motivational factors related were practicality, disease considered simple and lack of access to health system.