Waka A Udezi
,
Obumneke A Obieche
For correspondence:- Waka Udezi Email: tonywaka@uniben.edu Tel: +2348037102111
Published: 31 December 2015
Citation: Udezi WA, Obieche OA. Factors that influence antimicrobial agents prescribing in pregnancy: An exploratory study. J Sci Pract Pharm 2015; 2(1):13-17 doi: 10.47227/jsppharm.v2i1.4
© 2015 The author(s).
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Purpose: This study is aimed at determining the demographic factors of pregnant women that are associated with antimicrobial prescription and profile frequently diagnosed infectious diseases among antenatal clinic attendees.
Methods: Medical case files of 1300 pregnant women attending the antenatal care clinic of a women and children’s health care facility in Benin City was systematically selected for a period of one year for review. Data extracted from the last medical encounter include age, gestational age, weight, diagnosis and the name of the antimicrobial agent prescribed. Frequencies and percentages were calculated and association of antimicrobial prescription with demographic variables was investigated with the aid of chi-square test. P-values <0.05 were interpreted as significant
Results: Majority of the medical case files did not contain some of the women’s socio-demographic data which were of interest in this study. The woman’s age (p=0.0003), body weight (p=0.002) and number of children (p=0.028) statistically influenced prescription of antimicrobial agents during pregnancy. Women who had more live children were more likely to receive prescription of antimicrobial agent during pregnancy. The results indicate that upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) was the most frequent infectious medical condition (33.3%) across the categories of age groups, trimesters, body weights and number of children. This was followed by malaria, urinary tract infection (UTI) and candida. Amoxicillin (42.6%) and nystatin were commonly used in the treatment of URTI and candida respectively.
Conclusion: There appears to be an association between prescriptions for antimicrobial agents and demographic factors of pregnant women. The most prevalent infectious medical condition is URTI which is mostly managed with amoxicillin.
