{"id":2161262,"date":"2019-09-16T11:34:16","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T15:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/?p=2161262"},"modified":"2019-09-16T12:36:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T16:36:42","slug":"off-label-medications-children-2161262-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/off-label-medications-children-2161262-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors are prescribing kids more ‘off label’ meds"},"content":{"rendered":"
US physicians are increasingly ordering medications for children “off label,” research finds.<\/p>\n
Many drugs prescribed for children have not been rigorously tested in children, according to the Food and Drug Administration.<\/p>\n
“Off-label medications\u2014meaning medications used in a manner not specified in the FDA’s approved packaging label\u2014are legal. We found that they are common and increasing in children rather than decreasing,” says senior author Daniel Horton, assistant professor of pediatrics and a pediatric rheumatologist at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.<\/p>\n
“However, we don’t always understand how off-label medications will affect children, who don’t always respond to medications as adults do. They may not respond as desired to these drugs and could experience harmful effects.”<\/p>\n
In visits with at least one drug order, doctors ordered drugs off-label in about 83% of newborn visits, 49% of infant visits, and about 40% of visits for other ages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The findings highlight the need for more education, research, and policies addressing effective, safe pediatric drug prescribing.<\/p>\n