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Prescription drug dispensing profiles for one million children: a population-based analysis

  • Pharmacoepidemiology and Prescription
  • Published:
European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Population-based drug utilization databases that comprehensively capture an entire population’s drug dispensing are scarce resources for epidemiological studies. This study aimed to examine the prescription-dispensing rates in children in British Columbia (BC) and describe the differences in the dispensing of medications in BC versus children in the United States (US) and Europe.

Methods

The study population was children aged 0–17 years in BC (n = 855,541). Children with at least one prescription dispensed in 2007 were identified using the provincial outpatient prescription dispensing database. All prescriptions were grouped on the basis of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system. Prevalence of drug dispensing was calculated in each age group, gender, and therapeutic class.

Results

Fifty-five percent of BC children were dispensed at least one prescription in 2007. Antibacterials for systemic use, dermatological corticosteroids, and drugs for obstructive airway diseases were commonly dispensed in each age group. The percentage of children who received psychoanaleptics was two to five times higher than rates reported in European countries, but 30% lower than rates reported in the US.

Conclusions

Half of the BC population <18 years received at least one prescription in 2007. Significant variations in drug dispensing were highlighted between BC, the US, and Europe. Future studies are needed to examine the outcomes of the prescribing in terms of benefit and harm. A variety of factors (e.g., disease prevalence rates, drug prescribing preferences) are likely to contribute to disparate dispensing of specific drug classes and should be principal factors in the investigation.

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Financial disclosure and conflict of interest

The authors have no personal or financial relationships, academic competition, or intellectual commitments that could cause a real or perceived conflict of interest with respect to the research discussed in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Tingting Zhang & Bruce C. Carleton

  2. Pharmaceutical Outcomes Programme, BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, Canada

    Tingting Zhang, M. Anne Smith, Salomah Shajari & Bruce C. Carleton

  3. Child & Family Research Institute, 950 West 28th Avenue, Room A3-207, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4 H4, Canada

    Tingting Zhang, M. Anne Smith & Bruce C. Carleton

  4. James Hogg Research Centre, UBC, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Pat G. Camp

  5. Providence Heart and Lung Institute, St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Pat G. Camp

  6. Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Stuart M. MacLeod

  7. Division of Translational Therapeutics, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, UBC, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Bruce C. Carleton

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  1. Tingting Zhang
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  2. M. Anne Smith
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Correspondence to Bruce C. Carleton.

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Zhang, T., Smith, M.A., Camp, P.G. et al. Prescription drug dispensing profiles for one million children: a population-based analysis. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 69, 581–588 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-012-1343-1

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