Inclusion/exclusion criteria:
Risk management : the review aimed to establish the
implementation of risk management for teratogenic medications used by
women of child bearing age. Therefore, papers were included in the
review if they reported the use of at least one teratogenic medication
by females of child bearing age and the implementation of at least one
risk minimisation measure consistent with the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS)
drug safety programme designed to address safety concerns. Safety of
teratogenic medications use is further monitored against Elements to
Assure Safe Use (ETASU), see Table 1 [27, 28].
Papers focused on the following were excluded from the review: pregnancy
rates while using a teratogenic medication, pregnancy outcomes after
exposure to a teratogenic medication, emergency contraception,
contraception due to a medical condition (medical conditions that
require contraception regardless of the use of drugs), abortion or
pregnancy termination, side effects of contraceptives, venous
thromboembolism, teratogenic risk of contraceptives, prescription
patterns during pregnancy and need for contraceptive due to HIV
infection.
Perceptions of teratogenic risk : to address the aim of
reviewing publications reporting how teratogenic risk of medications
is perceived, papers included in the review were those reporting
perceived teratogenic risk as numerical value. Studies reporting the
perception of risk of non-teratogenic medications were excluded from
the review.