Concomitant use of contraceptives and potentially teratogenic medicinal product: results from a study using pharmacy dispensing data in the Netherlands. Reprod Sci 2012; 19: 987–994

The objective of this study was to analyze to what extent potentially teratogenic medicinal products are dispensed concomitantly with contraceptives. Data on dispensed medicinal products in this population-based study were obtained from the Dutch Foun-dation for Pharmaceutical Statistics. For over 178 potentially teratogenic medicinal products, concomitant use of contraceptives was assessed. The proportion of potentially teratogenic medicinal products dispensed concomitantly with a contraceptive varied significantly from 40.9 % (95 % CI 40.7-41.2) in 2005 to 43.4 % in 2009 (95 % CI 44.2-43.7). Significant differences existed as well between age categories with the lowest proportions of concomitant use of contraceptives for any potentially teratogenic drug in women aged 36 through 45 years (35.0%, 95 % CI 34.9-35.1) in comparison to those aged 26 through 35 years (47.1%, 95% CI 46.9-47.3) and 15 through 25 years (53.6%, 95 % CI 53.4-53.8). Although our data retrieval did not cover the use of nonphar-macological forms of contraception such as condoms and sterilization and as situations may occur during which the use of drugs with (low) teratogenic potential is a balanced decision, our results raise doubts about the safe use of medicinal products with teratogenic potential