Differences in medication beliefs between pregnant women using medication, or not, for chronic diseases: a cross-sectional, multinational, web-based study

Abstract

ObjectivesTo assess whether medication beliefs differ between women who use or not use medication for their somatic chronic diseases during pregnancy and whether this association varies across diseases.DesignCross-sectional web-based survey.SettingMultinational study in Europe.ParticipantsPregnant women or women with children less than 1 year old from European countries and with asthma, allergy, cardiovascular, rheumatic diseases, diabetes, epilepsy and/or inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).Primary and secondary outcome measureDifferences in scores of theBeliefs about Medicines Questionnaire(BMQ).ResultsIn total, 1219 women were included (ranging from 736 for allergy to 49 for IBD). Women using medication for their chronic disease (n=770; 63%) had higher scores on the BMQ subscalesnecessity(16.6 vs 12.1, p<0.001) andbenefits(16.2 vs 15.4, p<0.001), and lower values on the subscalesoveruse(12.5 vs 13.1; p=0.005) andharm(9.8 vs 10.7, p<0.001) than women not using medication. No significant differences were shown for theconcernssubscale (12.5 vs 12.3, p=0.484). Beliefs varied somewhat across diseases but in general more positive beliefs among women using medication were shown. Epilepsy was the disease where less differences were observed between women using and not using medication.ConclusionWomen’s beliefs were associated with medication use during pregnancy with only small differences across the diseases. Knowing pregnant women’s beliefs could help identify women who are reluctant to use medication and could guide counselling to support making well-informed treatment decisions.