ArticleJournal of pregnancy2017
Use of Over-the-Counter Medication among Pregnant Women in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Article in Journal of pregnancy, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and associated factors of self-medication in worldwide pregnant women: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2024Pooled it
- Self-management of iron and folic acid supplementation during pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and postnatal periods: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2021Pooled it
- Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward medication use among pregnant women attending Mansoura university hospital antenatal care clinics: an analytic cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Prevalence, safety evidence, and determinants of medicine use during breastfeeding among women in Kampala, Uganda.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- Non-prescribed drug use and its associated factors among pregnant women in Southwest Ethiopia.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Assessment of Self-Medication Awareness During Pregnancy Among Saudi Women in Madinah: A Cross-Sectional Study.Cureus · 2025Article
- Self-medication practices and associated factors among pregnant women in Oromia, Ethiopia: institutional based cross-sectional study.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice on self-care with over-the-counter medicines among pregnant women.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2024Article
- Article
- Trends of Over-the-Counter and Prescribed Medication Use During Pregnancy: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2023Article
- Review
- Perceived risks of over-the-counter medication use among pregnant Saudi mothers: A cross-sectional study.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences · 2022Article
- An exploratory survey on community pharmacists' service provision for pregnant and lactating women in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.PloS one · 2022Article
- Identification of At-risk Pregnant Population for Over-the-Counter Drug Usage in Low-Resource Settings.Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology of India · 2021Article
- Knowledge, Information Sources, and Institutional Trust of Patients Regarding Medication Use in Pregnancy: A Systematic Review.Journal of family & reproductive health · 2021Review
- Evaluation of the pregnant women's approaches regarding drug utilization.Northern clinics of Istanbul · 2021Article
- Self-Medication and Safety Profile of Medicines Used among Pregnant Women in a Tertiary Teaching Hospital in Jimma, Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Self-medication and knowledge among pregnant women attending primary healthcare services in Malang, Indonesia: a cross-sectional study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Article
- Article
- The use, perceptions and knowledge of safety of over-the-counter medications during pregnancy in a Canadian population.Women's health (London, England)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOver-the-counter medications are widely available in pharmacies Their safety profile, however, does not extend to pregnant women. Accordingly, there should be educational programs developed for pregnant women to protect them from the harms of the side effects.
aimThis study was planned and designed with the aim of exploring the awareness and assessing the usage of OTC medications among pregnant women in Sharjah, UAE.
methodA cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire.
resultsMore than three-quarters (75.7%) reported that they are familiar with the term "over-the-counter drugs." Interestingly, 40% of the respondents reported that they took OTC drugs during pregnancy, and the majority (94.2%) agreed with the survey statement "not all OTC medications are safe to be taken during pregnancy." Constipation was the most frequent side effect that most of the participants reported during the study period. Folic acid (36%), calcium (28.6%), and iron (35.1%) were the most common supplements used by the pregnant women responding.
conclusionThe reported 40% usage of OTC medications among pregnant women in this study is worrisome and calls for the need to educate, counsel, and increase awareness among pregnant women regarding the dangers of OTC drugs usage while pregnant in Sharjah, UAE.
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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.