Drug Use in Children: Cohort Study in Three European Countries

Objective: To provide an overview of drug use in children in three European countries. Design: Retrospective cohort study, 2000-5. Setting: Primary care research databases in the Netherlands (IPCI), United Kingdom (IMS-DA), and Italy (Pedianet). Participants: 675 868 children aged up to 14 (Italy) or 18 (UK and Netherlands). Main outcome measure: Prevalence of use per year calculated by drug class (anatomical and therapeutic). Prevalence of "recurrent/chronic" use (three or more prescriptions a year) and "non-recurrent" or "acute" use (less than three prescriptions a year) within each therapeutic class. Descriptions of the top five most commonly used drugs evaluated for off label status within each anatomical class. Results: Three levels of drug use could be distinguished in the study population: high (>10/100 children per year, moderate (1-10/100 children per year), and low (