gms | German Medical Science

Context: The Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) strives to support the empowerment of its insurees by means of patient information and shared decision making tools. Developing a booklet about drug use in children aims to increase the awareness of parents regarding compliance and effectiveness of drug use in children.

Aim of the study: To evaluate and critically appraise drug regime in children.

Material and Method: A statutory health insurance company’s person specific but non-identifying prescription data from 2005 were analysed. Prescription data of children aged 12 or younger (809,032 insurees) were identified. The drugs were classified according the Rote Liste main index (RL).

Results: In 2005 85.3 % of the children received at least one prescription. The proportion of the adolescent and adults (aged 12 or older) with at least one prescription was 76.0 % respectively. Antitussives/expectorants (18.1 %), decongestants/sinusitis agents (13.3 %), antibiotics (11.5 %), analgetics/anti-inflammatory drugs (11.3 %) and broncholytics/antiasthmatic drugs (6.9 %) are the most frequent prescribed drugs for children. 66.6 % of the drugs prescribed were over-the-counter-drugs (compared with 4.5% in adolescents and adults). However, three of the ten most prescribed drugs (Prospan®, Mucosolvan®, Spasmo-Mucosolvan®) lack convincing evidence of effectiveness. 1.6% of the prescribed sympathomimetics were used off-label.

Conclusion: Children represent other spectrums of diseases than adults and are particularly affected by acute infections. The high amount of antitussives and the proportion of off-label-use of sympathomimetics needs to be discussed in the context of rational and safe drug therapy. Further investigation is needed to optimize the drug use in children.