ArticlePakistan journal of medical sciences
Physician's prescription pattern in young infants with upper respiratory infections/cough and cold in emergency department.
Article in Pakistan journal of medical sciences. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- Application and advantages of induced sputum cytology with gradient concentrations of hypertonic saline in the diagnosis of chronic cough.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2026Article
- A Quantitative Review of Un-licensed and Off-label Medicines Use in Children Aged 0-2 Years in the Private Sector in South Africa: Extent, Challenges, and Implications.Current pediatric reviews · 2026Article
- Correlation between single nucleotide polymorphisms in TLR4, LTA and RFP175 genes and susceptibility to invasive bacterial infections in infants under three months of age: A case control study.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveDespite the national/international warnings and little evidence as to whether over-the-counter cough and cold medications (OTC-CCM) are effective, physicians frequently overprescribe, parents overuse these drugs and antibiotics for URTIs in young child. This study aimed to determine the prescription pattern of over-the-counter cough and cold medications (OTC-CCM) in children less than two years.
methodsThis was a cross-sectional study in which we collected physicians prescriptions in young infants less than two years of age with ARI (acute respiratory infections) who visited pediatric emergency department (ED) between September 2017-April 2018 and received prescription with OTC-CCM enrolled. Infants who did not receive OTC-CCM were excluded.
resultsDuring the study period 2476 infants presented to the ED and 1452 (58.6%) had prescription with OTC-CCM. Analyzing the prescription details revealed that 63.8% was with decongestants, 53.5% antitussive and 52.7% antibiotics. One third of the prescriptions with these medications were written by pediatricians (p=0.001). Physicians had tendency to prescribe antibiotic if the infants had fever higher than 38°C (p=0.02).
conclusionWe observed that international and national warnings did not show a considerable impact on the prescription pattern. Despite international and national reports, physicians frequently prescribe OTC-CCM in infants.
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