It is desirable to avoid drug use during pregnancy considering the effects on the fetus and newborn. However, some women may need drug treatment for illness before pregnancy or during pregnancy. This study aims to obtain information on drug selection in drug therapy for pregnant women, focusing on neonatal drug withdrawal syndrome (NAS).

Therefore, we analyzed the expression tendency of NAS using the “Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report database (JADER)” in single-agent and multiple-drug administration. The drugs reported to cause NAS were psychotic drugs such as antidepressants and antianxiety drugs. As a result of analyzing the drug onset tendency in single-agent administration, escitalopram oxalate, alprazolam, and zolpidem tartrate were more likely to cause onset than other drugs. In the comparison of monotherapy and multiple drug therapy of each drug, aripiprazole was more likely to cause onset in two-drug use, and risperidone, quetiapine fumarate, sodium valproate, sertraline hydrochloride, fluvoxamine maleate, and paroxetine hydrochloride hydrate in three- or more drug use. In addition, 7 cases were “unrecovered” and “with sequelae” in multiple drug use, which was higher than in the case of single agent administration. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the onset and aggravation of the disease due to multiple drug use. We believe that these results will help drug selection in drug therapy for pregnant women with psychiatric disorders.