Use of Ibuprofen Before and in Early Pregnancy Among Women With and Without Chronic Medical Diseases. A Cross-Sectional Study

PURPOSE: While having a chronic medical disease (CMD) increases use of analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs, sufficient knowledge regarding patterns of use during pregnancy is lacking. We aimed to describe ibuprofen use before and in early pregnancy among women with and without CMD, and to assess the associations between CMD and ibuprofen use before and in early pregnancy. METHODS: We used self-reported data from 24 018 pregnancies from the Copenhagen Pregnancy Cohort (2013-2019) to compare ibuprofen use between women with and without CMD. Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression models were applied. RESULTS: Women with CMD reported higher ibuprofen use before and in early pregnancy. However, use was markedly reduced from before to early pregnancy in both groups: from 19.8% to 0.61% among women with CMD (p < 0.001), and from 16.9% to 0.27% among women without. Before pregnancy, women with CMD more often reported frequent (daily or 1-2 times per week) ibuprofen use compared with women without (aOR 2.40, 95% CI 1.96-2.94), and in early pregnancy more often any use (aOR 2.08, 95% CI 1.31-3.32). Especially endometrioses, rheumatological, and neurological diseases were associated with frequent use before pregnancy (aOR 4.85, 95% CI 2.14-10.99; aOR 4.57, 95% CI 2.92-7.16; and aOR 3.55, 95% CI 2.09-6.04, respectively). Similar analyses of specific diseases in early pregnancy were precluded due to low numbers. CONCLUSIONS: Use of ibuprofen was markedly reduced in early pregnancy, among both women with and without CMD. Having CMD was associated with increased ibuprofen use before and in early pregnancy.