Paediatric Rational Prescribing: A Systematic Review of Assessment Tools.

Rational prescribing criteria have been well established in adult medicine for both research and quality improvement in the appropriate use of medicines. Paediatric rational prescribing has not been as widely investigated. The aims of this review were to identify and provide an overview of all paediatric rational prescribing tools that have been developed for use in paediatric settings.

Modifying a Paediatric Rational Prescribing Tool (POPI) for Use in the UK.

Rational prescribing tools can be used by individual prescribers, organisations, and researchers to evaluate the quality of prescribing for research and quality improvement purposes. A literature search showed that there is only one tool for evaluating rational prescribing for paediatric patients in hospital and outpatient settings. The Pediatrics: Omission of Prescriptions and Inappropriate Prescriptions (POPI) tool was developed in France and comprises 105 criteria.

Protocol for a prospective observational study of adverse drug reactions of anti-epileptic drugs in children in the UK.

Background: Epilepsy is a common chronic disease of children that can be treated with anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs). AEDs, however, have significant side effects. Newer AEDs are thought to have fewer side effects.

Anti-epileptic drug utilisation in paediatrics: a systematic review.

Objectives: This study aims to determine global anti-epileptic drug (AED) utilisation prevalence and describe utilisation trends in different countries.

Methods: Databases Embase (1980-May 2017), Medline (1946-May 2017) and PubMed were searched for original research on AED utilisation. All paediatric national or regional database studies and surveys were included.

Retrospective review of paediatric case reports of Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis with lamotrigine from an international pharmacovigilance database.

Objectives: This study aims to characterise paediatric reports with lamotrigine (LTG) and Stevens-Johnson syndrome or toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN), and to explore whether potential risk factors can be identified.

Design: This is a retrospective review of suspected adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports. Reported time from LTG start to SJS/TEN onset, indication for use and dose was explored.

Safety of antiepileptic drugs in children and young people: A prospective cohort study.

Purpose: This study aims to describe the incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in children receiving antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) and compare ADRs to the individual drugs when given as monotherapy.

Method: Paediatric patients (≤18 years old) were enrolled for this prospective observational study over a 6-month period, between September 2015 and March 2016. Adverse reactions to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were elicited at the time of enrolment and after 3 months using the Paediatric Epilepsy Side Effects Questionnaire.

INTERVENTIONS MADE BY UK PHARMACISTS TO MINIMISE RISK FROM PAEDIATRIC PRESCRIBING ERRORS.

Background: Prescribing errors have the potential to adversely affect the safe pharmacological treatment of patients of all ages. The multi-centre General Medical Council commissioned 'EQUIP' study assessed the prevalence and nature of prescribing errors and found a mean rate of errors in 8.9% of medication orders.

INTER-INDIVIDUAL VARIATION IN THEOPHYLLINE CLEARANCE IN CHILDREN.

Background: Inter-individual variation in pharmacokinetics in children is an area where there has been little research. We wished to determine the extent of inter-individual variation in the clearance of theophylline in paediatric patients of different ages.

Methods: A systematic literature review was performed using the following databases; Embase (1974 to January 2013), Medline (1946 to January 2013), CINAHL (1937 to January 2013), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970 to January 2013) and the Cochrane Library.

Systematic review of paediatric studies of adverse drug reactions from pharmacovigilance databases.

Objective: To perform a systematic review of studies describing paediatric adverse drug reactions (ADRs) conducted from national pharmacovigilance databases.

Methods: A systematic literature search of studies describing results for paediatric ADRs from national pharmacovigilance databases was performed. PubMed database, Embase and MEDLINE were searched up to March 2015.

Invasiveness of pharmacokinetic studies in children: a systematic review.

Objectives: To explore whether pharmacokinetic (PK) studies in paediatric patients are becoming less invasive. This will be evaluated by analysing the number of samples and volume of blood collected for each study within four different decades.

Methods: A systematic literature review was performed to identify PK papers describing number of samples and volume of blood collected in studies of children aged 0-18 years.

Learning Lessons from Adverse Drug Reactions in Children.

Drug toxicity is, unfortunately, a significant problem in children both in the hospital and in the community. Drug toxicity in children is different to that seen in adults. At least one in 500 children will experience an adverse drug reaction each year.

Herbal medicines: challenges in the modern world. Part 2. European Union and Russia.

Introduction: Herbal medicines (HMs) have been well known to people of the European Union (EU) and Russia for centuries. Currently, Western HMs can be classified into two categories, plant-derived conventional medicines and dietary supplements. Interest to HMs has grown rapidly in all countries during the past two decades.

Safety of Levetiracetam in Paediatrics: A Systematic Review.

Objective: To identify adverse events (AEs) associated with Levetiracetam (LEV) in children.

Methods: Databases EMBASE (1974-February 2015) and Medline (1946-February 2015) were searched for articles in which paediatric patients (≤18 years) received LEV treatment for epilepsy. All studies with reports on safety were included.

Use and safety of azithromycin in neonates: a systematic review.

Objectives: To identify the use and adverse drug reactions associated with azithromycin in neonates.

Setting: Databases MEDLINE (1948-August 2015), EMBASE (1980-August 2015) and Pubmed (August 2015) were searched for studies on azithromycin in neonates.

Participants: All studies involving neonates (<28 days old) who have received at least a single dose of azithromycin for which safety was evaluated.

Adverse drug reactions in Ghanaian children: review of reports from 2000 to 2012 in VigiBase.

Objective: The aim of this article is to describe adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported for children aged 0 - 17 years in Ghana.

Methods: Paediatric reports submitted by the Ghana National Centre for Pharmacovigilance to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global ADR database, VigiBase up to December 2012 were extracted. The data were analysed for number of reports per year, types of reporters and suspected ADRs and drugs.

Adverse drug reactions in Nigerian children: a retrospective review of reports submitted to the Nigerian Pharmacovigilance Centre from 2005 to 2012.

Background: Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in children recorded in national pharmacovigilance databases in high-income countries have been analysed. Nigeria has a population of 31 million children and became a member of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring in 2004 since when it has been submitting reports of suspected ADRs to the WHO Global Individual Case Safety Report database, VigiBase.

Objective: To gain information on reported ADRs in Nigerian children aged 0-17 years in VigiBase from 2005 to 2012.

Why do young children die in the UK? A comparison with Sweden.

Background: The UK has a high child mortality rate, whereas Sweden's is lower (under-five mortality rates of five and three, respectively, in 2011).We therefore wished to compare causes of death in young children aged <5 years in the two countries.

Methods: Under-five mortality data were obtained from the Office of National Statistics for each of the individual countries within the UK for 3 years (2006-2008).

Safety of lamotrigine in paediatrics: a systematic review.

Objectives: To identify adverse drug reactions associated with lamotrigine in children and compare the safety profile with other antiepileptic drugs.

Setting: Databases EMBASE (1974-April 2015), MEDLINE (1946-April 2015), PubMed and the Cochrane library for randomised controlled trials were searched for studies on safety of lamotrigine.

Participants: All studies involving paediatric patients aged ≤ 18 years who have received at least a single dose of lamotrigine with safety as an outcome measure were included.

Lack of a significant change in caffeine metabolism in underweight children as determined by the caffeine breath test.

Objective: Limited data from pharmacokinetic studies in underweight and severely malnourished children have indicated an impaired activity of their hepatic enzymes. We used the caffeine breath test to assess the metabolising activity of cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) enzyme in underweight children.

Methods: Underweight children from the paediatric outpatient clinic, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja in Nigeria, were studied.

Inter-individual variation in morphine clearance in children.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the extent of inter-individual variation in clearance of intravenous morphine in children and to establish which factors are responsible for this variation.

Methods: A systematic literature review was performed to identify papers describing the clearance of morphine in children. The following databases were searched: Medline, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, CINAHL, and Cochrane library.