Incidence of unlicensed and off-label prescription in children

BACKGROUND Many common drugs have not been licensed for use in children. METHODS This study evaluated the incidence of unlicensed and off-label prescriptions at the Department of Pediatrics during a period of six months. A total of 8,559 prescriptions for 4,282 children were processed. RESULTS Off-label and unlicensed prescriptions were found in 9.01% and 1.26% of all prescriptions, respectively. Unlicensed prescriptions were significantly more common in boys (1.5%) than in girls (1.0%) (p = 0.037). There was no significant difference between off-label prescriptions in boys (9.0%) and in girls (9.1%) (p = 0.89). The prescription of unlicensed drugs was significantly more frequent in school age children (p < 0.0001). The most commonly prescribed unlicensed drugs were angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors; among off-label drugs, antihistamines and bronchodilators. CONCLUSIONS This study shows that the incidence of unlicensed and off-label drug prescriptions in our patients is not as high as in other studies.