AI Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to estimate how often outpatient opioid prescriptions could lead to overdoses in children.
- Over a period of 11 years, data from Medicaid showed that 2.7% of prescriptions for children under 3 years old contained doses exceeding safe limits, with an average excess of 48%.
- Younger children were at greater risk, with nearly 9% of opioid prescriptions for infants 0-2 months potentially being overdoses, highlighting a significant safety concern in medication dosing for this age group.
Article Abstract
Objective: To estimate the frequency of potential overdoses among outpatient opioid-containing prescriptions.
Method: Using 11 years of outpatient Medicaid prescription data, we compared opioid dose dispensed (observed) versus expected dose to estimate overdose error frequencies. A potential overdose was defined as any preparation dispensed that was >110% of expected based on imputed, 97th percentile weights.
Results: There were 59 536 study drug prescriptions to children 0 to 36 months old. Overall, 2.7% of the prescriptions contained potential overdose quantities, and the average excess amount dispensed was 48% above expected. Younger ages were associated with higher frequencies of potential overdose. For example, 8.9% of opioid prescriptions among infants 0 to 2 months contained potential overdose quantities, compared with 5.7% among infants 3 to 5 months old, 3.6% among infants 6 to 11 months old, and 2.3% among children >12 months (P < .0001).
Conclusions: Opioid prescriptions for infants and children routinely contained potential overdose quantities.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4474749 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0009922815586050 | DOI Listing |
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