The purpose of this study was to investigate the anxiety of pregnant and lactating women about taking drugs to determinea relationship between the nature of the anxiety and its degree.To do this,we conducted a survey of postpartum lactatingwomen and mothers with children in the GCUs of BFH-certified hospitals.The questions mainly involved the degreeof anxiety about drug use during pregnancy and lactating,and the nature of the anxiety (subject’s own description).Descriptionsof anxiety were analyzed by text mining,and then correspondence analysis was conducted to determine a relationshipbetween the nature of the anxiety and its degree.The results of text mining revealed that there was anxiety concerning the effect of drug use on fetuses,babies,and breastmilk.They also showed that the numbers of respondents who were anxious about drugs prescribed by physicians and thosewho had no anxiety were about the same.Correspondence analysis indicated that there was a connection between the natureof anxiety during pregnancy and lactating and the degree of anxiety.High-anxiety respondents frequently used the words“fetus”and“baby”,while low-anxiety respondents frequently used the word“doctor”in their responses.The above results suggest that the anxiety of pregnant and lactating women concerning drug use stems directly from theeffect drugs might have on the fetus or baby.They also showed that doctors were a factor in relieving such anxiety.Therefore,pharmacists must determine the degree of women’s anxiety concerning drug use and attempt to relieve it by providinginformation on the effects of drug use on the fetus or baby in cooperation with doctors,and in on-demand consultations.
