title: Opioid Prescribing and Potential Overdose Errors Among Children 0 to 36 Months Old.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the frequency of potential overdoses among outpatient opioid-containing prescriptions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using 11 years of outpatient Medicaid prescription data, we compared opioid dose dispensed (observed) versus expected dose to estimate overdose error frequencies. A potential overdose was defined as any preparation dispensed that was >110% of expected based on imputed, 97th percentile weights.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 59 536 study drug prescriptions to children 0 to 36 months old. Overall, 2.7% of the prescriptions contained potential overdose quantities, and the average excess amount dispensed was 48% above expected. Younger ages were associated with higher frequencies of potential overdose. For example, 8.9% of opioid prescriptions among infants 0 to 2 months contained potential overdose quantities, compared with 5.7% among infants 3 to 5 months old, 3.6% among infants 6 to 11 months old, and 2.3% among children >12 months (P < .0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Opioid prescriptions for infants and children routinely contained potential overdose quantities.
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA bascob@musc.edu.
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Basco
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Myla
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebeling
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Sandra S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Garner
authors.affiliation: West Virginia Unviversity, Morgantown, WV, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Hulsey
authors.affiliation: Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
authors.forename: Kit
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid / Q000506:poisoning*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D062787:Drug Overdose / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013022:South Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D000701:Analgesics, Opioid
keywords: child; children; medication errors; overdose; patient safety