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Acid Suppression Use Among Infants in One Tertiary Children's Hospital in China, 2015-2018: A Retrospective

Yue Zhou1, Lina Xu2, Haishaerjiang Wushouer1,3

  • 1Department of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.

Frontiers in Pediatrics
|June 7, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Physicians frequently prescribed acid-suppressing medications, including histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), to hospitalized infants under two years old. These drugs were often used without a diagnosed digestive disease, highlighting a need for safety and efficacy evaluations.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric pharmacology
  • Gastroenterology
  • Drug utilization studies

Background:

  • Clinical guidelines advise caution in prescribing acid suppressants to infants.
  • Histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) lack approval for infants under two years in China.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the utilization patterns of H2RAs and PPIs in hospitalized infants under two years old.
  • To assess the prevalence and indications for acid suppressant use in this pediatric population.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of hospitalized infants under two years old.
  • Data collected from a Chinese tertiary children's hospital between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018.
  • Examination of prescription data for H2RAs and PPIs.

Main Results:

  • Acid suppressants (H2RAs/PPIs) were prescribed to 4.4% of hospitalized infants.
  • Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) were used more than twice as frequently as histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs).
  • Over half of the prescriptions (57.5%) were for infants without diagnosed digestive system diseases.

Conclusions:

  • H2RA and PPI prescriptions are frequent in hospitalized infants under two years old in China.
  • A significant proportion of these medications are prescribed for conditions other than diagnosed digestive diseases.
  • Further research is urgently required to assess the safety and effectiveness of H2RAs/PPIs in infants.

Keywords:
acid suppressionshistamine-2 receptor antagonistsinfantsoff-label drug useproton pump inhibitors

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