Exposures and treatments among women of childbearing age and pregnant women reported to Texas poison centers.

Abstract

Both exposures reported to poison centers and the treatments used involved potential teratogens. This investigation describes the patterns of exposures and treatments among women of childbearing age and pregnant women reported to Texas poison centers during 2000-2002. Of 476,365 total reported human exposures, 65,074 (13.7%) involved women of childbearing age and 1,406 (0.3%) involved pregnant women. The most frequently reported exposures among women of childbearing age were analgesics (sedatives, hypnotics, antipsychotics) and antidepressants. The teratogens alcohol and anticonvulsants were the 5th and 13th most frequently reported exposures, respectively. The substances used most often to treat women of childbearing age were oral N-acetylcysteine, antihistamines and naloxone; anticonvulsants were the 7th most frequently reported substance used in treatment, and ethanol the 28th most commonly reported substance. Although only a small fraction of pregnant women of childbearing age reported to Texas poison centers, a portion of women reported to be not pregnant may have been pregnant and unaware of the fact, and thus may have been exposed to a teratogen at a time when susceptibility to teratogens is greatest. Poison centers need to be aware of this when providing information to patients and recommending treatment.