Table 4.
Absolute prevalence of off-label systemic drug orders by drug class and age for children in US ambulatory settings (2006–2015)
| Off-label orders per 1000 ambulatory visits (95% confidence intervals) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drug class1 | Age <1m | Age 1m-<2y | Age 2–5y | Age 6–11y | Age 12–17y | All children |
| Anti-infectives | 13.72 (6.8, 20.5) | 60.1 (52.9, 67.2) | 88.6 (80.7, 96.6) | 78.3 (70.3, 86.2) | 79.8 (70.1, 89.5) | 74.8 (69.6, 79.9) |
| Respiratory | 0.52 (0, 1.6) | 48.0 (40.6, 55.4) | 63.5 (56.5, 70.6) | 61.0 (53.8, 68.2) | 50.1 (43.8, 56.5) | 53.8 (49.8, 57.9) |
| Nervous | 9.02 (1.2, 16.7) | 8.6 (4.3, 12.9) | 16.0 (12.8, 19.1) | 62.6 (54.2, 71.0) | 123.0 (108.9, 137.2) | 53.7 (47.8, 59.5) |
| Alimentary | 27.5 (15.8, 39.2) | 26.3 (21.9, 30.8) | 26.9 (22.1, 31.8) | 27.8 (23.5, 32.1) | 22.1 (18.8, 25.5) | 25.8 (23.2, 28.4) |
| Hormonal | ND2 | 13.4 (10.5, 16.3) | 15.8 (12.8, 18.7) | 12.2 (9.1, 15.2) | 10.3 (7.8, 12.9) | 12.4 (10.9, 13.9) |
| Cardiovascular | 02 (0, 0.1) | 1.62 (0.8, 2.4) | 3.4 (2.2, 4.6) | 6.4 (4.5, 8.4) | 8.3 (6.2, 10.4) | 4.9 (4.0, 5.9) |
| Musculoskeletal | 1.32 (0, 3.4) | 3.8 (2.5, 5.1) | 3.3 (1.8, 4.8) | 3.4 (2.2, 4.5) | 8.5 (6.4, 10.5) | 4.7 (3.9, 5.6) |
| Genitourinary | ND2 | 0.22 (0, 0.5) | 0.32 (0, 0.5) | 0.62 (0.1, 1.2) | 15.7 (12.8, 18.6) | 4.4 (3.6, 5.2) |
ND not defined
1
Drug class according to Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical level 1 classification
2
Values based on <30 observations