Research on medication use in the neonatal intensive care unit

Area of Science:

• Neonatal pharmacology and pharmacotherapy research.

Background:

• Assessing the rationality of current pharmacotherapy in neonates is challenging due to significant off-label drug use and knowledge gaps.
• Medication use research in neonates provides insights into drug utilization patterns, identifies potential irrational prescribing, and benchmarks practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an updated overview of medication use research in hospitalized neonates, including characteristics, objectives, methods, and patterns.
• To review specific drug classes (opioids, anti-epileptics, gastric acid-related, respiratory stimulants) and the impact of interventions on neonatal pharmacotherapy.
• To highlight how medication use research can improve neonatal pharmacotherapy and guide future research priorities.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of observational studies on medication use in hospitalized neonates.
• Review of literature focusing on specific drug classes and interventions in neonatal pharmacotherapy.

Main Results:

• Medication use reports identify patterns, signal irrational use, and can guide research priorities in neonatal care.
• Research on medicine utilization informs about trends, variability, and guideline implementation in neonates.
• Specific drug classes like opioids, anti-epileptics, gastric acid-related drugs, and respiratory stimulants were reviewed for their use patterns and intervention impacts.

Conclusions:

• Medication use research is crucial for understanding and improving pharmacotherapy in neonates.
• Further research requires integrating medication use datasets with clinical characteristics for enhanced insights.
• Perinatal drug use remains a critical area requiring additional dedicated research efforts.