Impact of pregnancy on psychotropic medication prescription: a French cohort study

Abstract

Objectives: To determine if and when prescription of psychotropic medication in women is modified by pregnancy.

Method: Psychotropic prescription of 87 213 pregnant women affiliated with the French General Health System was examined. Period of analyses lasted 17 months to cover 4 months before and after pregnancy. A comparable cohort of 87 213 non pregnant women constituted the control group.

Results: More than half of pregnant women to whom a psychoactive drug was prescribed were novel users during all three trimesters and after delivery. Prevalence of psychotropic medication before pregnancy is comparable to that of non-pregnant women. Rate of psychotropic medication during the peripartum stayed high, even though it decreased by half during the first trimester, showing a "pregnancy impact effect".

Conclusions: Data show a dramatic impact of pregnancy. More information on specific patterns of prescription needs to be gained in order to establish decision-making models for psychotropic prescription during pregnancy.