ArticlePharmacoepidemiology and drug safety2019
Variation of the prevalence of pediatric polypharmacy: A scoping review.
Article in Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Medication-related problems and their associated factors among paediatric patients in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Pooled it
- 2021 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Treatment of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: Recommendations for Nonpharmacologic Therapies, Medication Monitoring, Immunizations, and Imaging.Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2022Guideline
- 2021 American College of Rheumatology Guideline for the Treatment of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: Recommendations for Nonpharmacologic Therapies, Medication Monitoring, Immunizations, and Imaging.Arthritis care & research · 2022Guideline
- Polypharmacy and adverse drug reactions among hospitalised children: determinants and clinical and economic impact in a multicentre prospective cohort and nested matched case-control study in Northwest Ethiopia.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- Polypharmacy and Drug Interaction Risk in Children and Adolescents with Congenital Heart Defects: Insights from a Nationwide Survey.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Polypharmacy among medicaid-insured children with and without documented obesity.Pharmacotherapy · 2023Article
- Pharmacogenetic profiling via genome sequencing in children with medical complexity.Pediatric research · 2023Article
- Article
- Pediatric Psychotropic Polypharmacy: An Evaluation of the Correlates and Prevalence Across Assessment Cycles in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology · 2022Article
- 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
- Medications Reconciled at Discharge Versus Admission Among Inpatients at a Children's Hospital.Hospital pediatrics · 2021Article
- Complexity of Medication Regimens for Children With Neurological Impairment.JAMA network open · 2021Article
- High-level psychotropic polypharmacy: a retrospective comparison of children in foster care to their peers on Medicaid.BMC psychiatry · 2021Article
- Drug Safety in Translational Paediatric Research: Practical Points to Consider for Paediatric Safety Profiling and Protocol Development: A Scoping Review.Pharmaceutics · 2021Article
- Prevalence and Age Structure of Polypharmacy in Poland: Results of the Analysis of the National Real-World Database of 38 Million Citizens.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Use of Chronic Prescription Medications and Prevalence of Polypharmacy in Survivors of Childhood Cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2021Article
- Effects of the number of drugs used on the prevalence of adverse drug reactions in children.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Polypharmacy: a healthcare conundrum with a pharmacogenetic solution.Critical reviews in clinical laboratory sciences · 2019Article
- Counting the Ways to Count Medications: The Challenges of Defining Pediatric Polypharmacy.Journal of hospital medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo examine the range of prevalence of pediatric polypharmacy in literature through a scoping review, focusing on factors that contribute to its heterogeneity in order to improve the design and reporting of quality improvement, pharmacovigilance, and research studies.
methodsWe searched Ovid Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Ovid PsycINFO, Cochrane CENTRAL, and Web of Science Core Collection databases for studies with concepts of children and polypharmacy, along with a hand search of the bibliographies of six reviews and 30 included studies. We extracted information regarding study design, disease conditions, and prevalence of polypharmacy.
resultsTwo hundred eighty-four studies reported prevalence of polypharmacy. They were more likely to be conducted in North America (37.7%), published after 2010 (44.4%), cross-sectional (67.3%), in outpatient settings (59.5%). Prevalence ranged from 0.9% to 98.4%, median 39.7% (interquartile range [IQR] 22.0%-54.0%). Studies from Asia reported the highest median prevalence of 45.4% (IQR 27.3%-61.0%) while studies from North America reported the lowest median prevalence of 30.4% (IQR 14.7%-50.2%). Prevalence decreased over time: median 45.6% before 2001, 38.1% during 2001 to 2010, and 34% during 2011 to 2017. Studies involving children under 12 years had a higher median prevalence (46.9%) than adolescent studies (33.7%). Inpatient setting studies had a higher median prevalence (50.3%) than studies in outpatient settings (38.8%). Community level samples, higher number and duration of medications defining polypharmacy, and psychotropic medications were associated with lower prevalence.
conclusionsThe prevalence of pediatric polypharmacy is high and variable. Studies reporting pediatric polypharmacy should account for context, design, polypharmacy definition, and medications evaluated.
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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.