Self-medication among pregnant women in Ghana: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Despite the associated health risks of self-medication during pregnancy, recent evidence suggests that the phenomena persist in most countries. However, self-medication during pregnancy in Ghana is poorly understood due to the lack of a comprehensive review study. OBJECTIVES: We sought to review existing literature on the prevalence of self-medication, drugs used in self-medication, diseases associated with self-medication, and why pregnant women in Ghana self-medicate. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Science Direct, African Journal Online (AJOL), Google Scholar, and the websites of Ghanaian universities to identify studies that were published until February 2022. We performed this review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). A random-effects meta-analysis was done in StatsDirect statistical software and OpenMeta [Analyst] to estimate the prevalence of self-medication during pregnancy and was reported in a forest plot. Simple charts and tables were used to summarize evidence on drugs used in self-medication, diseases associated with self-medication, and reasons for self-medication. RESULTS: Six (6) studies met our inclusion criteria and the pooled prevalence of self-medication during pregnancy was 65.4% (95% CI = 58.2%–72.6%; I(2) = 88.32%; p < 0.001). Common drugs used for self-medication included analgesics (48.1%) and herbal drugs (45.9%). Headache and lower abdominal pain were the most common conditions for which pregnant women self-medicated. The main reasons for self-medication were the perceived unserious nature of diseases, previous experience with drugs, and easy access to over-the-counter drugs. CONCLUSIONS: Self-medication among pregnant women in Ghana is substantially high. Measures need to be implemented to reduce the high prevalence of self-medication during pregnancy to achieve sustainable development goals on maternal health in Ghana. A limitation of this study was the small number of included studies, which calls for more studies on self-medication during pregnancy in Ghana.