128A STUDY ON DRUG UTILIZATION PATTERN AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITALBackground: Pregnancy is special physiological condition where drug treatment presents a special concern: A unique period in a woman’s life. Maternal treatment with conventional doses of some medications during a susceptible period of pregnancy is known to be harmful to the developing embryo. The use of medications in pregnancy should be evaluated for the benefits and risks to both the mother and foetus. Aims & objectives: To find out the drug utilization pattern and to evaluate the safety of the drugs prescribed. Methodology: The study was a prospective observational study conducted in the Karuna Medical College and Hospital, Chittur, Palakkad in the duration of six months (February 2021 to July 2021). A total of 261 cases were included from Inpatients/Outpatients attending the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Department. Self designed data entry form was used to collect data. Then the drugs were categorized according to US FDA drug risk category. And the PDD: DDD ratios of the prescribed drugs were found as per their ATC Code. Result & Discussion: Among 1249 drugs prescribed 487 drugs prescribed belonged to category C (38.99%), 375 drugs were prescribed from category A (30.02%), 371 drugs were prescribed from category B (29.7%), 11 drugs were prescribed from category D (0.88%), and only 5 drug from Category X were prescribed (0.4%). Category D and X drugs were prescribed mostly on second trimester (2%) and on first trimester (1.19%) respectively. PDD:DDD ratio was determined for 18 drug for which DDD was available. The highest ratio was found for Pantoprazole which was 2. Conclusion: Most of the drugs prescribed during pregnancy were from category C and B which reflects safe and rational pattern of prescribing. The present study provided a baseline data regarding the prescribing pattern of drugs used among pregnant women as well as a scope for further research in this areashilpaksivaraman@gmail.comResearch1222022PDD,DDD,US FDA Pregnancy category,Teratogen,Drug utilization patternBibi Amal Abdul Latheef,Shilpa K,YumnaParayakkal Zakir,Thangamani S,Dr. Nadira BanuDepartment of Pharmacy Practice, Grace College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Kerala, India,Department of Pharmacy Practice, Grace College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Kerala, India,Department of Pharmacy Practice, Grace College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Kerala, India,Department of Pharmacy Practice, Grace College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Kerala, India,Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBG), Karuna Medical College, Palakkad, Kerala, India