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PEDIATRICS Vol. 111 No. 2 February 2003, pp. 291-295

Risk Factors for Unlicensed and Off-Label Drug Use in Children Outside the Hospital

Objective. To establish risk factors of unlicensed and off-label drug use by children outside the hospital.

Methods. A cross-sectional study based on 66 222 pharmacy dispensing records for the year 2000 was performed in the northern part of the Netherlands. All prescriptions were divided into the following categories: unlicensed (no product license), off-label (licensed drugs used outside the terms of the product license), and on-label (licensed drugs used according to the product license). For identifying possible problem areas, the proportions of unlicensed and off-label drug use were determined per age group (0–1, 2–5, 6–11, or 12–16 years) and per drug group. For all systemic drugs, a logistic regression was done that models the odds of receiving an unlicensed or off-label prescription as a function of several possible risk factors.

Results. Unlicensed drug use in Dutch children is the highest among 0 to 1-year-olds, and off-label drug use is the highest among 12- to 16-year-olds. Drug groups with highest percentages of unlicensed and off-label drug use were ophthalmologicals/otologicals (80.7% of all prescriptions in this group), blood and blood-forming organs (mainly vitamin K for breastfed newborns; 75.7%), cardiovascular drugs (74.7%), and dermatologicals (73.3%). Prescriptions by specialists (outpatient), prescriptions for new drugs, prescriptions for drugs with a low use in the pediatric population, and prescriptions for infants were risk factors for using a systemic drug unlicensed or off-label.

Conclusion. Efforts to improve pediatric labeling are important and need full support. The present results can be used to focus these efforts.

Eric Schirm, MPharmSc*, Hilde Tobi, PhD* and Lolkje T.W. de Jong-van den Berg, PhD*,{ddagger}

* Groningen University Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE), University of Groningen, Department of Social Pharmacy, Pharmacotherapy and Pharmacoepidemiology, Groningen, the Netherlands
{ddagger} InterAction Working Group, Northern Netherlands, the Netherlands

Key Words: children • pediatrics • drug utilization • unlicensed • off-label • pharmacy dispensing data

Abbreviations: GP, general practitioner • ATC, Anatomic Therapeutic Chemical • FDA, US Food and Drug Administration

Received for publication Apr 1, 2002; Accepted Aug 5, 2002.




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