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Evaluation of inpatient admissions and potential antimicrobial and analgesic dosing errors in overweight children

Jamie L Miller1, Peter N Johnson, Donald L Harrison

  • 1Department of Pharmacy: Clinical and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK 73117, USA. Jamie-Miller@ouhsc.edu

The Annals of Pharmacotherapy
|December 24, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Overweight children are at higher risk for medication dosing errors, with underdosing being more common. This highlights a need for careful medication management in pediatric obesity.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric pharmacology
  • Clinical pharmacy
  • Obesity research

Background:

  • Rising prevalence of overweight and obesity in US children.
  • Potential for medication dosing errors (over- or underdosing) with standard weight-based protocols in pediatric patients.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the proportion of pediatric hospital admissions involving overweight children (BMI ≥ 85th percentile).
  • To compare the mean medication dosing error rate per admission between overweight and normal-weight children.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective study of 699 children (aged 5-12 years) over 6 months.
  • Categorization into overweight (BMI ≥ 85th percentile) and control groups.
  • Dose appropriateness assessed against established pediatric references, defining overdose and underdose criteria.

Main Results:

  • Overweight children constituted 33.1% of the 839 admissions.
  • A statistically significant higher mean error rate in medication dosing was observed in overweight patients (0.4 vs 0.3; p=0.030).
  • Underdose errors were more frequent than overdose errors in the overweight group (0.3 vs 0.2; p=0.010).

Conclusions:

  • Overweight children represent a substantial proportion of pediatric admissions and face increased risks of medication dosing errors.
  • Findings suggest a higher likelihood of therapeutic failures or adverse effects in overweight children due to dosing inaccuracies.
  • Emphasizes the need for tailored medication management strategies for overweight pediatric populations.
Abstract

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