Résumé
Introduction: The use of medications during pregnancy has increased in the recent years. Some congenital anomalies, birth defects, and miscarriages have been found to be preceded by some medications use during pregnancy. The use of herbal medicines is not yet proved to be safe during pregnancy, since some herbs showed increased risk of certain congenital malformations
Aim: This study assesses the pregnant women perception, beliefs, and attitude toward medication and natural products use and their influencers during pregnancy
Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study targeting women in Alahsa, Saudi Arabia. More than 300 women have responded to a pretested questionnaire collecting their sociodemographic, perception and attitude toward medication and natural product. The data were analyzed using SPSS Statistics under the supervision of a statistician
Results: This study involved 184 participants, 29.2% of pregnant women avoided using prescribed medications, 40.7% non-prescribed, and 33.3% natural products during pregnancy. Paracetamol was on the top of the avoided medications, and herbals were on the top of the avoided natural products. The most common reason for avoidance was fearing of its effect on fetus. More than half of the participants always looked for the product safeness. Pain killers, antibiotics, cinnamon, and pineapple are the most commonly believed products to be harmful during pregnancy. 1st trimester is believed to be the critical period in which medications and herbals should be avoided
Conclusion: Pregnant women should be educated more about unsafe products during pregnancy. Women's beliefs about natural products need further exploration because of lack of evidence