Drug choice in pregnancy

Lifestyle factors have an important influence on pregnancy outcome. It is well established that smoking cigarettes, eating a poor diet and drinking alcohol during pregnancy can have adverse consequences for the foetus. More recent data suggest that moderate maternal caffeine consumption is associated with low birth weight, and that pre-pregnancy obesity increases the risk of neural tube defects; (obese women seem to require higher doses of folate supplementation than women who have a BMI in the healthy range).