Background and Objectives. 

Pregnant immigrated women might be expected to behave differently with respect to drug use because of differences associated with socio-cultural and religious factors and with customs and beliefs. Therefore, the aim of this study is to compare the behavioral pattern relating to drug use during pregnancy in Western and immigrated women.

Design. 

A structured questionnaire was designed to collect information on demographic characteristics of the participants as well as on their drug use pattern (whether prescribed by obstetrician or self-administered). Pregnant women who gave consent to enrollment in the study were asked to fill in the questionnaire during the third trimester of their pregnancy. If necessary, complementary information was collected from the patient's medical record.

Setting. 

The study was conducted at the University Hospital of Brussels which is one of the medical referral centers in Brussels, with a large number of immigrants.

Main outcome measures. 

Quantitative data analysis was done using SPSS 17.0 program.

Results. 

The analyses included 350 patients categorized into 3 categories according to ethnicity (Western group, Arabic & Turkish and Other origins group).The most common classes of medications used were analgesics, anti-emetics, hormones, respiratory medications and antibiotics. 47.4% of the pregnant women used contraceptives before pregnancy, 35.1% of them used medication & 80.3% used food supplements during pregnancy. Higher levels of education were associated with greater use of medication (p = 0.019). Similarly, higher socio-economic status was associated with use of medication; pregnant women in families in which both partners are working used more medication. Western women used medication (42%) more than Arabic women (27%) (p = 0.033). Moreover Western women used folic acid (67%) more than non Western ethnicities (47%) & (51%) in (Arabic & Turkish group) and in other origin women (p = 0.003) There was no significant difference in use of contraceptives.

Conclusion. 

There are some differences between Western& non Western pregnant women in drug intake behaviour but more international collaborative studies are warranted to confirm the role of immigration. Educational level, origin & household income were associated with the use of medication during pregnancy. There is a need for doctors to understand ethnicity related characteristics in order to improve the quality of prescribing in order to decrease DRPs.