title: Drug Utilisation Patterns in Children Admitted to a Paediatric General Medical Ward in Five Countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate and compare drug prescription patterns in children admitted to a paediatric general medical ward in five countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective cohort study conducted on paediatric medical wards in the UK, Germany, Australia, Hong Kong (HK) and Malaysia. Data were collected over 3 months in each country except in Australia (1 month). All medications prescribed were classified according to the WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification. For each drug, frequency of prescriptions and patient exposures were calculated for ATC anatomical and therapeutic levels overall and by country.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One thousand two hundred and seventy-eight patients were included (Australia 146, Germany 376, UK 313, HK 143 and Malaysia 300); 89.2 % of patients (1140) received medications, median 3 (interquartile range 2-5) drugs per patient. 5367 drugs were prescribed. The most frequently prescribed therapeutic groups in all countries were: systemic antibacterials (1355; 25.2 %), analgesics/non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (1173; 21.8 %) and drugs for obstructive airway diseases (472; 8.8 %). Overall, 65.1 % (742) of patients received at least one systemic antibacterial, 63.7 % (726) received one or more analgesic/NSAIDs, and 23.6 % (269) received 'drugs for obstructive airway diseases'. The number of patients exposed to these groups differed significantly between countries (p< 0.05). Paracetamol was the most frequently prescribed in all countries, but metamizole was only used in Germany. Morphine was mainly prescribed in the UK.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides an overview of drug use patterns in five culturally and ethnically diverse countries. The most frequently used therapeutic groups were similar, but the proportion of patients treated differed between countries. Also within a therapeutic group the specific drug used varied between countries.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London, King's Health Partners, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH UK ; Pharmacy Department, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, King's Health Partners, Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7EH UK.
authors.forename: Asia N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Rashed
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China ; UCL School of Pharmacy, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ian C K
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: UCL School of Pharmacy, London, UK.
authors.forename: Lynda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wilton
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London, King's Health Partners, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH UK ; Pharmacy Department, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, King's Health Partners, Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7EH UK.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tomlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.
authors.forename: Antje
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neubert