Finding information about medicine safety in pregnancy and breastfeeding is challenging. But the problem extends beyond a mere lack of data. A recent ConcePTION publication reveals that the recommendations for how a drug should be taken by pregnant and breastfeeding women vary a lot between different information sources. Even between the most credible sources and in both information intended for patients and health care professionals. The authors also identify a critical need to harmonise information within and between countries.
We need more and better follow-up of data describing if a particular medicine is safe to use during pregnancy and breastfeeding. This knowledge gap often leads to women receiving suboptimal treatment, or no treatment at all. Sometimes it puts the baby at risk, and mothers might choose not to breastfeed, or stop earlier than they would like. The safety data that is available is often contradictory, scattered, and inconsistent.
ConcePTION researchers have analysed available information about the safety of medicines during pregnancy and breastfeeding. They have looked at six particular drugs in online resources for patients and health care professionals, in four different EU languages. The results show that more than half of the comparisons of pregnancy safety information had discrepant recommendations. For breastfeeding, only 17 % of the comparisons between information written for patients were consistent. The researchers also found that recommendations from specialised teratology information services in the different languages were generally in agreement. And that information for health care professionals was slightly more consistent between sources.
The ConcePTION project will bridge the knowledge gap of medicine safety in pregnancy and breastfeeding, and one result of our efforts will be a European information resource for both women and health care professionals. This knowledge bank will allow users to access information that is both harmonised, evidence-based, and up to date.
One of the authors of the paper is Ulrika Nörby, a pharmacist at the Medical Health and Care Administration in Region Stockholm, Sweden. According to her, when women cannot find the information they need, they should turn to the health care system for answers. But when the health care professionals can’t find clear answers either, there is nothing to base the decisions that need to be taken on.
“ConcePTION is trying to solve this problem, by building the infrastructures needed to increase the knowledge and provide a place where laypeople and health care professionals can go to receive the same information, based on well-grounded and updated sources produced by experts. To avoid misunderstanding and to simplify for all,” says Ulrika Nörby.
By Anna Holm
Nörby U, Noël-Cuppers B, Hristoskova S, et al. Online information discrepancies regarding safety of medicine use during pregnancy and lactation: an IMI ConcePTION study, Expert Opinion on Drug Safety (2021), First online 8 June 2021