ArticleBMC public health2011
Maternal bodies and medicines: a commentary on risk and decision-making of pregnant and breastfeeding women and health professionals.
Article in BMC public health, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Breastfeeding initiation and continuation among women on medicines: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2026Pooled it
- Trace Element Dyshomeostasis as a Mediator of Toxic Metal-Induced Reproductive Dysfunction: Mechanistic Insights and Future Perspectives.Biological trace element research · 2026Review
- Article
- Factors, Attitudes, and Prevalence of Self-Medication Among Pregnant Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The role of pharmacological interventions in managing urological complications during pregnancy and childbirth: A review.Medicine · 2025Review
- Article
- Representations of 'risky' drinking during pregnancy on Mumsnet: A discourse analysis.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- Alleviating anxiety while breastfeeding: evaluating buspirone transfer into human milk.Archives of women's mental health · 2024Article
- COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy: How discrepant public health discourses shape responsibility for fetal health.SSM. Qualitative research in health · 2023Article
- Association of postpartum medication practices with early breastfeeding cessation among mothers with chronic conditions: A prospective cohort study.Acta obstetricia et gynecologica Scandinavica · 2023Article
- WRISK voices: A mixed-methods study of women's experiences of pregnancy-related public health advice and risk messages in the UK.Midwifery · 2022Article
- Paracetamol use in pregnancy - neglecting context promotes misinterpretation.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2022Article
- Demographics, health literacy and health locus of control beliefs of Australian women who take complementary medicine products during pregnancy and breastfeeding: A cross-sectional, online, national survey.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- "I got to catch my own baby": a qualitative study of out of hospital birth.Reproductive health · 2022Article
- Shared decision-making about medication intake during lactation: A prospective longitudinal study in Greece.European journal of midwifery · 2022Article
- Tough Choices: Exploring Medication Decision-Making During Pregnancy and Lactation Among Women With Inflammatory Arthritis.ACR open rheumatology · 2021Article
- Perceived Social Influences on Women's Decisions to use Medications not Studied in Pregnancy. A Qualitative Ethical Analysis of Preexposure Prophylaxis Implementation Research in Kenya.Journal of empirical research on human research ethics : JERHRE · 2021Article
- A Qualitative Study of Pregnant Women's Perspectives on Antibiotic Use for Mom and Child: Implications for Developing Tailored Health Education Interventions.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Use of Medications by Breastfeeding Women in the 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Factors influencing women's decision-making regarding complementary medicine product use in pregnancy and lactation.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe perceived risk/benefit balance of prescribed and over-the-counter (OTC) medicine, as well as complementary therapies, will significantly impact on an individual's decision-making to use medicine. For women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, this weighing of risks and benefits becomes immensely more complex because they are considering the effect on two bodies rather than one. Indeed the balance may lie in opposite directions for the mother and baby/fetus. The aim of this paper is to generate a discussion that focuses on the complexity around risk, responsibility and decision-making of medicine use by pregnant and breastfeeding women. We will also consider the competing discourses that pregnant and breastfeeding women encounter when making decisions about medicine. DISCUSSION: Women rely not only on biomedical information and the expert knowledge of their health care professionals but on their own experiences and cultural understandings as well. When making decisions about medicines, pregnant and breastfeeding women are influenced by their families, partners and their cultural societal norms and expectations. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are influenced by a number of competing discourses. "Good" mothers should manage and avoid any risks, thereby protecting their babies from harm and put their children's needs before their own - they should not allow toxins to enter the body. On the other hand, "responsible" women take and act on medical advice - they should take the medicine as directed by their health professional. This is the inherent conflict in medicine use for maternal bodies. SUMMARY: The increased complexity involved when one body's actions impact the body of another - as in the pregnant and lactating body - has received little acknowledgment. We consider possibilities for future research and methodologies. We argue that considering the complexity of issues for maternal bodies can improve our understanding of risk and public health education.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.