Preconception Counselling: a five year experience in a teratology information service

Objectives: This drugs aims at evaluating drug prescription patterns the exposure to teratogenic drugs, the prevalence of chronic maternal diseases and the attitude towards the supplementation of folic acid in a selected high-risk population asking for a preconception counselling. Study design: A descriptive study on 4077 cases of drug exposures carried out by an Italian Teratology Information Service, from January 2002 to October 2008. Results: The exposure to neurological drugs was the main reason for calling in women trying to get pregnant. Teratogenic drugs accounted for 40% of total prescriptions and chronic diseases, most of them neurological (70%), were higly prevalent (54%). Folic acid was dispensed to 54% of women at time of call. Conclusion: The esposure to teratogenic drugs and the prevalence of cronic disease is frequent in the population asking for a counselling and can increase the risk of a negative outcome of pregnancy. The prevalence of folic acid supplementation before conception is not yet sufficicent and should be improved, expecially in high-risk patients, such an epileptic women.