Maggio 2014 - Volume XXXIII - numero 5
Ricerca
Dipartimento di Salute Pubblica, Laboratorio per la salute materno-infantile, IRCCS - Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche
“Mario Negri”, Milano
*I componenti del Gruppo PeFAB sono riportati nel Box in chiusura dell’articolo.
Indirizzo per corrispondenza: daniele.piovani@marionegri.it
Key words: Drug prescriptions, Drug utilization, Child, Outpatients
Objectives - To identify a list of shared drugs on the basis of those prescribed by a group
of paediatricians during the daily clinical practice. The group were involved in initiatives
concerning health care for years.
Materials and methods - A total of 64 paediatricians operating in 4 local health units
(LHUs) of the Lombardy region participated in the study by collecting information about all
the pharmacological prescription filled during 8 weeks (April, 2 - June, 1 2012). The percentage
of paediatricians prescribing the same drug was calculated for all active substances.
Commonly used drugs were included in the list of shared drugs if: they were prescribed
by ! 50%; ! 50% of the prescriptions were filled by recommendation of a specialist
and the drug was prescribed by ! 25% of the paediatricians.
Results - Systemic antibiotics (43.8% of packages), anti-asthmatics (12.9%) and antihistamines
(11.8%) were the most prescribed classes. A total of 381 active substances were
prescribed. The most prescribed drug was amoxicillin (25.8% of packages), followed by
amoxicillin clavulanate (9.2%) and cetirizine (9.0%). About 30% of the prescribed packages
were generic and the most prescribed formulation was oral solution (54.6%). The most
recommended drug by the specialist was valproic acid. The list of shared drug was composed
of 38 active substances belonging to 16 therapeutic subgroups and covering
83.1% of the prescribed packages. Of these drugs, 33 were shared by ! 50% of the paediatricians
while 5 were mainly recommended by the specialist.
Conclusions - A list of shared drugs used during the daily clinical practice was identified
on the basis of the frequency of use and sharing among paediatricians. The list could be
propaedeutic to the creation of a shared formulary of commonly used paediatric drugs, also
taking into account cost-effectiveness and safety in order to improve the rational use of
drugs in children.
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