Survey on Off-label Drug Use in Outpatients of Zhengzhou Children's Hospital in 2013 / 中国药师

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the off-label drug use in the outpatients of Zhengzhou children's hospital in 2013 to provide the evidence for improving the rational drug use in pediatrics. Methods:The prescriptions of outpatients were randomly selected from January to December in 2013. According to the drug instruction, the off-label drug uses were analyzed in the following aspects sam-pling conditions, the kinds of off-label drug use, the incidence of off-label drug use in different age groups and drug categories. Re-sultsA total of 8 684 prescriptions with 16 344 medical records involving 410 kinds of drugs were analyzed, and the rate of off-label drug use was 70. 87% for prescription, 51. 21% for medical orders and 71. 95% for category, respectively. The primary types of off-label drug use were over applicable people (50. 83%), dosage(21. 00%) and frequency (19. 04%). The top 3 age groups with high-est off-label drug use rate were neonates (63. 27%), infants (56. 20%) and school-age (44. 98%). The top 5 drugs with highest off-label drug use rate were cardiovascular system medicines (99. 02%), anti-infective agents (64. 14%), vitamin and mineral drugs (62. 89%), hematological system medicines (59. 48%) and Chinese patent drugs (53. 43%). Conclusion: Off-label drug use in outpatients is prevalent. Physicians should master indications, usage and dosage described in instructions, select suitable dosage form, reduce off-label drug use and improve drug safety in pediatrics.