Proscribe or prescrive ? Drugs, a reasonable choice in pregnancy - ROS - 2005 - Tome 34 - N°2

Drug prescriptions during pregnancy are often worrisome for healthcare professionals and pregnant women. The benefit##: risk ratio for the mother, the embryo or the foetus is not always clearly determined and warnings included in patients' leaflets are often non-specific and difficult to interpret. This special situation requires clinical experience and pharmacologic data. Demonstrating absolute safety of a drug is a quite impossible task; however, a cautious attitude with recently developed drugs should be adopted and efficacious drugs, well known for their weak teratogenic or toxic potential should be preferred. The objective of this review article is to provide the reader with all available precise and objective information, which allow to make a reasonable and fair choice of drugs that can be prescribed during pregnancy.