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[Peroral drug administration to children--are there any problems?]
G K Steffensen1, A Pachaï, S E Pedersen
1Børneafdelingen, Aalborg Sygehus Nord.
Insights
Many children struggle with oral medication due to taste and swallowing difficulties, especially younger ones. Improving medication formulations, like better-tasting liquids and chewable tablets, can enhance pediatric medicine compliance.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Pharmacology
- Patient Adherence Research
Context:
- Assessing challenges in pediatric medication administration.
- Investigating factors influencing children's compliance with oral treatments.
Purpose:
- To identify common difficulties children face with orally administered medications.
- To explore the relationship between medication characteristics and administration problems.
Summary:
- A study surveyed 484 parents regarding their children's oral medication use.
- 43.2% of children experienced difficulties, primarily with taste and tablet swallowing.
- Younger children and tablet formulations presented greater administration challenges.
Impact:
- Highlights the need for improved pediatric oral medication formulations.
- Suggests that better-tasting liquids and chewable tablets could increase compliance.
- Informs strategies for enhancing the effectiveness of pediatric pharmacotherapy.
Abstract:
Children's compliance with orally administered medicine is described. Five hundred questionnaires were given to the parents of children at their first visit at the out-patient clinic with a response from 484. Three hundred and ninety-seven children had been treated with oral medication in the form of liquid formulation or tablets, 257 within the previous year. Of these, 43.2% reported difficulties in taking the medication. Only 8.5% of the treatments had been interrupted. The main cause of the problems were the medications' taste and difficulties with swallowing tablets. The problems were more pronounced among the younger children. The administration of tablets was more difficult than the administration of liquids. There was no relationship between the problems and frequency of dosing, duration of treatment, severity of illness, social status of the parents, or the parents' age. In conclusion, prescription of better tasting mixtures and chewable tablets may reduce the problems associated with administering oral medication to children.