Antibiotic usage, dosage and course length in children between 0 and 4 years.
OBJECTIVE
Antibiotic drugs are most frequently used by 0- to 4-year-old children. We performed a cross-sectional study in the Netherlands using a pharmacy prescription database to investigate the use, dose and course length of antibiotic drugs in 0- to 4-year-olds.


METHODS
We used a database with pharmacy drug-dispensing data. We investigated all prescriptions of systemic antibiotics prescribed in the years 2002-2006 for children of 0-4 years of age. Prescriptions for children under the age of 3 months were excluded.


RESULTS
Children of 9-12 months of age received more antibiotics than children in other age groups. In the 3- to 6-month-olds, amoxicillin was prescribed in 75.2% of the cases. This percentage was 50.4% in the 4-year-olds. The contribution of other broad-spectrum antibiotics increased with age (clarithromycin and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid). Small-spectrum penicillins were prescribed less often than the broad-spectrum antibiotics. From the prescriptions of the five most used drugs, 97.6% were within the recommended dose range. Most course lengths corresponded with the guidelines. Of the prescriptions, 3.9% were unlicensed or off-label.


CONCLUSIONS
Within the group of 0- to 4-year-old children, most antibiotics were used by 9- to 12-month-olds. The doses and course lengths were mostly correct, but the choice of antibiotics was not according to the guidelines. Young children received unlicensed and off-label prescribed antibiotics.
de Jong
Josta
J
Department of Pharmacoepidemology and Pharmacoeconomics, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. josta.de.jong@rug.nl
van den Berg
Paul B
PB
Visser
Sipke T
ST
de Vries
Tjalling W
TW
de Jong-van den Berg
Lolkje T W
LT
D000367:Age Factors; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017277:Drug Approval; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents