ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2008
Drug use in children: cohort study in three European countries.
Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 98 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
98 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of long-term antibiotic use on cognitive outcomes.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- Pediatric Outpatient Prescriptions in Countries With Advanced Economies in the 21st Century: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- Pharmacoepidemiological safety studies in children: a systematic review.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2016Pooled it
- Short- and long-term impacts of azithromycin treatment on the gut microbiota in children: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.EBioMedicine · 2018Trial
- Parental reporting of adverse drug events and other drug-related problems in children in Finland.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2013Trial
- Age and sex disparities in drug shortage impacts: a 10-year nationwide study in France.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Classification status of drugs generally used for self-medication in children: a targeted review of regulatory documents.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Review
- Impact of COVID-19 on Antimicrobial Stewardship Activities in Hospitalised Children: A Scoping Review.Journal of paediatrics and child health · 2025Article
- TIRESIA and TISBE: Explainable Artificial Intelligence Based Web Platforms for the Transparent Assessment of the Developmental Toxicity of Chemicals and Drugs.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Short-term exposure to antibiotics begets long-term disturbance in gut microbial metabolism and molecular ecological networks.Microbiome · 2024Article
- Meeting Challenges of Pediatric Drug Delivery: The Potential of Orally Fast Disintegrating Tablets for Infants and Children.Pharmaceutics · 2023Review
- Antimicrobial Defined Daily Dose in Neonatal Population: Validation in the Clinical Practice.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Profile of Drug Utilization in Patients with Rare Diseases in Tuscany, Italy: A Population-Based Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Appropriateness of antimicrobial selection for treatment of pneumonia in selected public hospitals of Eastern Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study.SAGE open medicine · 2023Article
- Pediatric Drug Safety Surveillance: A 10-Year Analysis of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Data in Calabria, Southern Italy.Drug safety · 2022Review
- Prescribed medicine use and extent of off-label use according to age in a nationwide sample of Australian children.Paediatric and perinatal epidemiology · 2022Article
- Altered Gut Structure and Anti-Bacterial Defense in Adult Mice Treated with Antibiotics during Early Life.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- No population left behind: Improving paediatric drug safety using informatics and systems biology.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Review
- Chronic Medication Use and Factors Associated With Polypharmacy Among Outpatient Pediatric Patients.The journal of pediatric pharmacology and therapeutics : JPPT : the official journal of PPAG · 2022Article
- Evaluation of Drug Use Pattern in Pediatric Outpatient Clinics in a Tertiary Teaching Hospital Using WHO Drug-Prescribing Indicators.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2022Article
38 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo provide an overview of drug use in children in three European countries.
designRetrospective cohort study, 2000-5.
settingPrimary care research databases in the Netherlands (IPCI), United Kingdom (IMS-DA), and Italy (Pedianet).
participants675 868 children aged up to 14 (Italy) or 18 (UK and Netherlands).
main outcome measurePrevalence of use per year calculated by drug class (anatomical and therapeutic). Prevalence of "recurrent/chronic" use (three or more prescriptions a year) and "non-recurrent" or "acute" use (less than three prescriptions a year) within each therapeutic class. Descriptions of the top five most commonly used drugs evaluated for off label status within each anatomical class.
resultsThree levels of drug use could be distinguished in the study population: high (>10/100 children per year), moderate (1-10/100 children per year), and low (<1/100 children per year). For all age categories, anti-infective, dermatological, and respiratory drugs were in the high use group, whereas cardiovascular and antineoplastic drugs were always in the low use group. Emollients, topical steroids, and asthma drugs had the highest prevalence of recurrent use, but relative use of low prevalence drugs was more often recurrent than acute. In the top five highest prevalence drugs topical inhaled and systemic steroids, oral contraceptives, and topical or systemic antifungal drugs were most commonly used off label.
conclusionThis overview of outpatient paediatric prescription patterns in a large European population could provide information to prioritise paediatric therapeutic research needs.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.