Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation

Many women need to use pharmaceutical drugs while pregnant or breastfeeding. Before any prescription, the healthcare system must make an individual assessment where the risk of birth defects is weighed against the mother's illness. This course gives you basic knowledge in compiling scientific information and justifying recommendation for a possible drug treatment.

A Swedish study shows that in 2007, almost six out of ten pregnant women received at least one drug prescribed by a doctor during pregnancy. Despite the high figure, there is often a lack of sufficient scientific evidence regarding safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding when using new drugs. Over time, healthcare will increase its knowledge through experience and follow-up studies, but right from the start, demands are high on the midwife's and the doctor's abilities to make individual assessments of the relationship between benefit and risk with a drug prescription in order to ensure patient safety for both mother and child.

The course Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation gives you an overview of the entire process from animal experimental trials in the study of a potential drug to risk assessment for the occurrence of birth defects. We also highlight how drugs pass from the placenta to the fetus as well as to breast milk during lactation. In connection with a recommendation, the healthcare provider must take several variables into account: the mother's illness, physiological changes during pregnancy or how old the child is. Here you will gain knowledge to search, review and compile existing scientific evidence in the field.

Welcome to a course where you lay the foundation for the knowledge required to assess what is of greatest benefit to both the mother and the unborn or nursing child.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

• The course starts in the autumn term
• The course is given online in both Swedish and English

LEARN MORE

• Flyer Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation (7.5 cr) Pdf, 229 kB.
• Research in Drug Safety & Toxicology at Uppsala University
• Freestanding courses at the Faculty of Pharmacy

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