Off-label and unlicensed medication use and associated adverse drug events in a pediatric emergency department.

OBJECTIVES: The study objectives were to (1) determine the types and frequency of off-label (OL) or unlicensed (UL) medications used in a pediatric emergency department (PED) and before admission, (2) describe OL/UL-associated adverse drug events (ADEs) resulting in admission to the PED and those occurring during patient care in PED, and (3) determine the outcomes of these ADEs.
METHODS: Medical records of patients 18 years or younger admitted to the PED over a 5-month period were reviewed. Off-label/UL use of medications was determined based on Food and Drug Administration-approved labeling. The Adverse Drug Reaction Probability Scale was used to determine ADE causality. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
RESULTS: A total of 2191 patients with 6675 medication orders were evaluated. About 26.2% (n = 1712) of medication orders were considered as OL/ UL use; 70.5% (n = 1208) of these medications were ordered as part of treatment in the PED, and the remaining 29.5% (n = 504) were home medications before their PED evaluation. Inhaled bronchodilators (30.4%), antimicrobials (14.8%), and antihistamines/antiemetics (9.1%) were the most common OL/UL medication classes. The frequency of ADEs among licensed medication use was greater compared with OL/UL use by 2-fold. Reported overall rate of ADEs was 0.6% (n = 40). Of these 40 ADEs, 5 resulted from the use of an OL/UL medication, 3 from home medication use, and 2 from PED-prescribed medications.
CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of reported ADEs associated with OL/UL medications was less than the frequency of ADEs from licensed medication use, with overall ADE frequency of less than 1%.