ANTIBIOTIC MISUSE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN MISURATA CITY

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that the self-medications among pregnant women is common in many developing countries. Despite the adverse impact on pregnancy, there are few programs available for their control. The objec-tive of this study was to assess the level of self-medication by antibiotics amongst Libyan pregnant women in order to determine the drug misuse, development of resistance and the possible harmful effects on fetus. Four hundred pregnant women, aged between 18 and 40 years were drawn from outpatient obstetric clinics and hospitals in Misurata city and assessed for self-medication by antibiotics, adapted from a self-report questionnaire based on the WHO guidelines for antibiotic misuse survey. Of the 400 pregnant women assessed, 61 (15.3%) indulged in the self-use of antibiotics for common cold, fever cough and pelvic pains (not prescribed from the antenatal clinic), 107 (26.8%) didn`t complete the full course of the drug (prescribed from the antenatal clinic) when they felt any im-provement. A total of 211(52.7 %) pregnant women complete the full course of the drug and 21 (5.2%) are not aware in antibiotic misuse in pregnancy. There was a significant difference in the pregnant women whom completed the full course of the drug and those don`t complete it. (X2=10.97, p=0.001); There was also a significant difference between the presence of current pregnancy illness and antibiotic misuse (X2=9.04, p=0.001) There was no signifi-cant difference among pregnant women who were highly educated compared to those with little or no education. However, the level of education has no strong impact in the self-usage of antibiotics as shown above. No fetal com-plications related to misuse was detected. This study shows that self-medication is not uncommon among pregnant women in our environment. There is need for adequate education of pregnant women during antenatal clinics on the potential danger of antibiotic self-medication so as to prevent child and maternal morbidity and mortality.