The use of drugs in women who are pregnant or breast feeding is
a question of fine balance. Harm may befall a baby because a drug
has been used, but mother and baby could suffer if a disease goes
untreated. Information about the safe and effective use of drugs
in pregnancy has not kept pace with the advances in other areas
of therapeutics. Systematic research involving drugs in pregnancy
is fraught with ethical, legal, emotional and practical difficulties
and in many cases our knowledge is based on anecdote or small
studies.
The purpose of this book is to bring together what is known
about prescribing in pregnancy and to put that information in a
clinical context. The first three editions were well received and this
has encouraged us to produce a fourth edition. All chapters have
been extensively revised or rewritten, with several new authors
bringing their clinical experience of this challenging subject.
We would like to thank Louise Sabir who once again has done
much behind-the-scenes work in contacting authors.