Most of the women take either prescribed or over-the-counter medication during pregnancy. Pregnant women often make independent decisions about their treatment and require careful counseling that allows them to balance the risk of taking a drug against the risk of not taking a drug and leaving a medical condition untreated. Most drugs are safe in pregnancy but some have unproven safety and may adversely affect the growing fetus. The safety profile of some of the medication may change according to the gestational age of the fetus. An estimated 10% or more of the birth defects results from maternal drug exposure. The development of knowledge in understanding the use of drugs during pregnancy has been in stalemate in comparison to other areas of therapeutics, mainly due to difficulties in testing new products in pregnant women and paucity of good quality research.
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