Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar;44(3):314-319.
doi: 10.15537/smj.2023.44.3.20220762.

Predictors of antibiotic use in pregnant women attending Najran University Hospital, Saudi Arabia

Ali M Alshabi  1 , Majed S Alshahrani  1 , Basel A Abdel-Wahab  1 , Masood M Khateeb  1 , Ibrahim A Shaikh  1 , Basheerahmed A Mannasaheb  1
Affiliations

Predictors of antibiotic use in pregnant women attending Najran University Hospital, Saudi Arabia

Ali M Alshabi et al. Saudi Med J. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of antibiotic use by pregnant women in Najran, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A total of 125 women aged 18 to 45 with a full-term pregnancy participated from October to December 2019. Age, order of current pregnancy, body mass index (BMI), history of miscarriage, and comorbidity were used to estimate antibiotic use.

Results: The majority were Saudis (67.2%), aged 30-35 (39.2%) years, with no history of miscarriage (53.6%), second order of pregnancy (26.4%), and going through weeks 20-25 of pregnancy (21.6%). A total of 26.4% of pregnant women had antibiotic prescriptions in the study population. Pregnant women under 30 years were less likely to receive antibiotics.

Conclusion: The results found an association between maternal age, order of pregnancy and antibiotic use during pregnancy. An association was observed between maternal BMI and the occurrence of adverse drug reactions after antibiotic use. In addition, a history of miscarriage was negatively associated with the use of antibiotics during pregnancy. These predictors of antibiotic administration have the potential to serve as general health indicators and to direct preventative strategies aimed at increasing the rational use of antibiotics.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia; antibiotics; comorbidity; complications; pregnancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Naidoo S, Bangalee V, Oosthuizen F.. Antibiotic use amongst pregnant women in a public hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. Health SA 2021; 26: 1516. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baraka MA, AlLehaibi LH, AlSuwaidan HN, Alsulaiman D, Islam MA, Alotaibi BS, et al. . Patterns of infections and antimicrobial drugs’ prescribing among pregnant women in Saudi Arabia: a cross sectional study. J Pharm Policy Pract 2021; 14: 9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Shroukh WA, Steinke DT, Willis SC.. Risk management of teratogenic medicines: a systematic review. Birth Defects Res 2020; 112: 1755–1786. - PubMed
    1. Zhao H, Zhang M, Bian J, Zhan S.. Antibiotic prescriptions among China ambulatory care visits of pregnant women: a nationwide cross-sectional study. Antibiotics (Basel) 2021; 10: 601. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stokholm J, Schjørring S, Pedersen L, Bischoff AL, Følsgaard N, Carson CG, et al. . Prevalence and predictors of antibiotic administration during pregnancy and birth. PLoS One 2013; 8: e82932. - PMC - PubMed

Substances

LinkOut - more resources