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From Prescription Drugs to Natural Health Products: Medication Use in Canadian Infants

Pascal Bedard1, Geoffrey L Winsor2, Emma S Garlock2

  • 1Department of Pharmacy, CHU Sainte-Justine, Montreal, QC H3T 1C5, Canada.

Children (Basel, Switzerland)
|October 27, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Nearly all infants use pharmaceutical products by age one, with common use of over-the-counter medications and natural health products (NHPs). Off-label drug use is frequent in infants, underscoring the need for monitoring.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Pharmacology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Limited data exists on pharmaceutical product use in infants.
  • Available data suggests higher prevalence of use among children under 12 months of age.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To describe the prevalence and patterns of pharmaceutical product use in infants up to one year of age.
  • To identify common medications, natural health products (NHPs), and off-label drug use in the first year of life.

Main Methods:

  • Descriptive study of 3050 infants from the prospective, multicenter CHILD Cohort Study.
  • Parental surveys at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum for medication and NHP use.
  • Analysis of reported products, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter (OTC) medications, and NHPs (vitamins, homeopathic products).

Main Results:

  • By one year of age, 96.0% of infants had used at least one pharmaceutical product.
  • Commonly used products included Vitamin D, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, topical hydrocortisone, amoxicillin, and nystatin.
  • 14.7% of products were used off-label, and 35.8% were NHPs or products without a Drug Identification Number (DIN).

Conclusions:

  • Over-the-counter medication and NHP use is common in infants.
  • Off-label drug use is frequent, even within the first year of life.
  • Highlights the need for infant medication use studies and healthcare provider monitoring.

Keywords:
drugsfamily medicinegeneral practicemedicine and pharmaceutical industrypediatricspharmacyprimary care

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