COVID-19 and pregnancy: A European study on pre- and post-infection medication use

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2024年2月12日

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Eimir Hurley,
Benjamin P. Geisler,
Angela Lupattelli,
Beatriz Poblador-Plou,
Régis Lassalle,
Jérémy Jové,
Marie-Agnes Bernard,
Dunia Sakr,
Gabriel Sanfélix-Gimeno,
Francisco Sánchez-Saez,
Clara L. Rodríguez-Bernal,
Mònica Sabaté,
Elena Ballarín,
Cristina Aguilera,
Sue Jordan,
Daniel Thayer,
Ian Farr,
Saira Ahmed,
Claudia Bartolini,
Giorgio Limoncella,
Olga Paoletti,
Rosa Gini,
Luigi A. Maglanoc,
Elena Dudukina,
Vera Ehrenstein,
Ema Alsina,
Tiago A. Vaz,
Judit Riera-Arnau,
Miriam C. J. M. Sturkenboom,
Hedvig M. E. Nordeng

摘要

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted medication needs and prescribing practices, including those affecting pregnant women. Our goal was to investigate patterns of medication use among pregnant women with COVID-19, focusing on variations by trimester of infection and location.

Methods

We conducted an observational study using six electronic healthcare databases from six European regions (Aragon/Spain; France; Norway; Tuscany, Italy; Valencia/Spain; and Wales/UK). The prevalence of primary care prescribing or dispensing was compared in the 30-day periods before and after a positive COVID-19 test or diagnosis.

Results

The study included 294,126 pregnant women, of whom 8943 (3.0%) tested positive for, or were diagnosed with, COVID-19 during their pregnancy. A significantly higher use of antithrombotic medications was observed particularly after COVID-19 infection in the second and third trimesters. The highest increase was observed in the Valencia region where use of antithrombotic medications in the third trimester increased from 3.8% before COVID-19 to 61.9% after the infection. Increases in other countries were lower; for example, in Norway, the prevalence of antithrombotic medication use changed from around 1–2% before to around 6% after COVID-19 in the third trimester. Smaller and less consistent increases were observed in the use of other drug classes, such as antimicrobials and systemic corticosteroids.

Conclusion

Our findings highlight the substantial impact of COVID-19 on primary care medication use among pregnant women, with a marked increase in the use of antithrombotic medications post-COVID-19. These results underscore the need for further research to understand the broader implications of these patterns on maternal and neonatal/fetal health outcomes.